A Fox Tail
by KAGUYA-hime0706
Summary: Every year on the same day, Sanji gets the same dream ever since he could remember. And every time the dream continues to become more and more vivid. Who is that girl? What is that song? What was in his past? Most of all how does Zoro contribute? First fanfic ever, Zosan, Fox!Sanji, rating may or may not change, COVER ART IS NOT MINE. I'm sorry, bad summary but give it go!
1. Dream

_**Hello, to whom ever is reading this fanfic and is bothered to read the AN. I would like to say thank you for reading this fanfic out all of the ones you could've chose and that this is my first fanfic ever and it has not been beta'd or edited as well as I hoped and is definitely not the best fanfic out there. I would like to warn you, this fic will contain yaoi and the pairing will be zosan and whatever I come up with will be completely different to what Oda is planning for One Piece. It's just something I came up with a little while ago and I'm only using the one piece world and it's characters because I'm terrible at creating my own characters. Please bear with me if i made the character's too ooc and would like to say that anything is accepted. You can flame all you want on this fanfic but it would be appreciated if there was helpful critics and compliments to help me improve and continue to have the motivation!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I own nothing but this plot line. Oh and the oc**_

* * *

 _A young boy was sitting next to a window reading a book, making most of the last of the sunlight filtering through the window. The sun reflected against his interesting gold fox ears and tail, with equally golden hair arranged to only show half of his face. The boy continued reading for another few hours before another child, this time a young girl that looked like a female version of the boy, came into the room._

" _How are you still reading, Sanji?" The girl asked the boy, now identified as Sanji. He looked up at the sound of his name and put down his book. He smiled at the girl who was his twin sister._

" _You know how much I enjoy reading Sami" Sanji replied with a soft smile before rubbing his eyes slightly. "But I suppose you're right, I have been reading for quite a while."_

" _Now that I have your attention, I haven't heard you play the piano for a while. Are you lagging in your practice Baby Brother?" the girl grinned cheekily at him, raising her eyebrow as if in a mocking manner._

" _You do know you don't have to provoke me if you want to listen to me playing, you could always ask."_

" _Nah"_

"… _and also the last time I checked, you're only older than me by 2 minutes, how does that make me 'Baby Brother'?"_

" _You're always going to be the baby brother to_ _ **all**_ _of us Sanji."_

 _The boy gave an annoyed huff and was about to open his mouth to argue more, but the look in his sister's eye already told him he lost this argument a long time ago. Instead he just gave an exaggerated groan that was ruined by the small smile pulling at his lips, as he got up and moved towards the piano that was at the other side of the room. As he sat down, he looked over at his sister._

" _Any requests?"_

" _Your choice."_

" _How about Yiruma?"_

" _Sure, like I said, your choice."_

" _Very well then."_

 _Soon the room was filled with a sweet melody and the music made both of the twins relax visibly with the easy flow of notes coming together. As the song finished the girl opened her and began to sing._

" _Lavender's blue, dilly dilly-"_

* * *

Sanji suddenly jolted awake in his hammock on the pirate ship, Thousand Sunny Go. As he slowly started to come out of dreamland he gave a mental 'seriously? What the fuck brain' to his head as he silently went over his dream.

 _Why it's always on this day that I have the same dream? Why does seem so familiar and vivid to me?_ Sanji thought as he ran his hand through his hair, a habit he does when he thinks. _Every year the dream becomes more and more vivid and longer, I nearly heard the song she would always sing this time._

Sanji decided to have earlier morning than usual, since he's already awake. As he slowly made his way to the kitchen, he stopped in front of the music room that was insisted by Brooked and found himself walking towards the it instead. As he walked inside and made his way across the room surrounded by various types of instruments he slowly came to a stop in front of a piano.

Sanji stared at it for a bit, before hesitantly sitting down and placing his fingers on the keys. He relied on muscle memory and began to play. The same sweet melody from his dream began echoing around the room. As Sanji played he fell into a trance and felt like he was in his dream again.

"I didn't know you played piano."

Startled by the sudden voice Sanji jerked to a stop, trance completely ruined only replaced by a tension in his body that can only be equivalent like when a child has been caught doing something it shouldn't. As he slowly turned around he saw Zoro leaning against the wall next to the door. With a relaxed stance, Sanji noted, knowing that the swordsman would never let his guard down around anyone he didn't trust and was slightly flattered that the swordsman chose to be at ease with him. Despite what some might think he and Zoro can get along quite well with each other, often helping each other out in their own way. The fights they have were really just for stress relief and training purposes. Having normal and civilized conversations? Ha, people who talk normally have no imagination. While they can have a normal conversation every now and then, it's just more fun to communicate by arguing and fighting and coming up with stupid insults rather than just asking 2 or 3 questions.

"When did you start?" The sudden question startling Sanji out of his thoughts.

"Sorry?" Sanji mentally slapped himself. _Well that was an intelligent reply_ Sanji thought sarcastically. Even Zoro looked at him with a look on his face that said 'really? That's the best you come up with?'

"The piano, since when did you start playing piano?"

"Why are you even up at this hour? And how long have you been listening?"

"I just finished my watch and I've been listening ever since I heard it and came into the room. Answer the question, aho-cook."

"I've never learnt to play the piano before."

Zoro frowned slightly in confusion. "Then how were playing before? It seemed like pro playing from what I heard."

"I'm flattered you think of me as a pro, and stop frowning like that, it makes you look like the constipated marimo you are."

Zoro scowled this time. "You didn't answer my question" He growled out choosing not to answer to the cook's jibe.

 _Smart choice_ "I don't know how I was playing; I was only playing something I remembered with muscle memory from a dream."

"You remembered it from a dream?" Zoro frowned again. "Is that even possible?"

"Well maybe not a dream but perhaps a memory."

"A memory?"

"Yes. It's always at this date of the year I have the same dream. Each year it becomes more vivid and goes on for longer and this time I nearly heard the song that was sung by her…"

"Who's her?"

"Patience young green one, I'm getting there, you're lucky you even caught me in a talky mood"

Zoro wanted to protest and insult the cook like he usually would, but in the end his curiosity with knowing more about the usually quite private cook won and he decided to stay quiet like he was told to. When Sanji heard no reply from his jab, he was slightly surprised the swordsman listened to him and continued.

"Her, as in the girl that always appears in my dream; it's always starts with me being in a room being by myself, reading a book. When I first started having this dream it only lasted with me reading the book for a while and at first I thought it was just my brain messing with me but I soon realized that there was more to the dream when they started to last longer and become more vivid. A few of the dreams later, the girl in my dream came and eventually, the dream leads to me playing the piano. The song I was playing before was the one that I always play in my dream. It's was only recently I been able to play the song when I'm awake but I always only manage to play it only once before the muscle memory fades and I can't play it anymore until I have the dream again."

"Ah, sorry for interrupting your playing then" Zoro winced slightly for interrupting in the first place. He should have waited for the piece to finish, it was a very relaxing song.

Sanji waved it off. "It's fine, I've already been able to play the whole song before. No, what really is pissing me off is the song that the girl was going to sing. I've only been getting fragments of the song and I've only gotten half of the first verse. It's like my brain is mocking me on purpose."

"Do you remember the girl's name? Or anything else?"

"No, it's like how anyone would usually wake up from a dream, you don't really remember some details, No matter how hard I try I can never remember some things in the dream, the girl's name is one of them. Nor do I know why but the girl was very important to me as well, but I can never remember why."

"Huh…that must be really annoying, if you've been having the same dream for the past few years of your life, I'm guessing?"

"It is very annoying. It usually leaves me distracted for the day and I can't do anything properly."

"This is why you should try meditating, distracted cook. Don't want your food tasting shittier than usual" Zoro smirked at the chance to rile up the cook.

Sanji flipped Zoro off "Ha ha, fuck you very much shitty swordsman. My food tastes amazing whether I'm distracted or not and you can't say anything about it." Zoro opened his mouth to argue more. "Don't even try to deny it, you vegetable, I've seen you stuff your face before with the food I've made like the Neanderthal you are. And might I mention that you always look like you enjoy it?"

"That's only because I need to eat and I don't like to waste food." Zoro protested but was only rewarded an unimpressed look from the cook. "Besides have you seen how Luffy eats? It's eat what you can with that guy at the table!" Zoro cried out as a last ditch attempt to save himself.

"Whatever floats your boat, little lost swordsie."

They continued their rather stupid verbal argument with the insults getting stupider until it made no sense if you weren't there to listen from the beginning of the argument. This continued until the swordsman went down to the men's bunk to catch up on sleep and the cook began to prepare breakfast, setting aside the marimo's portion for when he wakes up. It wasn't long before the next person who woke up the second earliest came.

"Good morning Cook-san, breakfast smells amazing as always" Robin smiled giving her morning greeting but was surprised with the unusual reply from the usually flamboyant cook.

"Thank you, Robin-chan, good morning to you too."

No hearts, no ridiculous dancing, no love declarations, just a normal polite reply. Robin frowned slightly looking closer at the cook realizing he currently seems…not distracted but perhaps deep in thought with something.

"May I ask what's wrong Cook-san?" Robin decided to ask, worrying about her important nakama. "You seem more reserved than usual. Is something bothering you?"

Sanji blinked out of his thoughts and smiled at Robin. _'Just like Robin-chan, noticing even the smallest things in her crew mates.'_

"No I'm fine, really Robin-chwan…it's just there are some days when I tend to get lost with my thoughts, but it makes me extremely happy to know such a goddess is worried about me, mellorine~!"

 _Ah_ Robin smiled again _there he is_ she thought as she giggled at the normal antics of the cook with his dancing and hearts saying how happy he is. But soon he stopped dancing and was back into deep thought and Robin was getting curious at what could distract the cook so much and decided to probe a bit. What can you say? Old habits die hard.

"A Beri for your thoughts Cook-san?"

"It's fine Robin-chwan~ Honestly it's usually around this date that I tend to fly away with my thoughts, I'll be fine after I clear my head a little. Also hate to trouble you, my flower, but could you tell me when we arrive at the next island?"

"According to Navigator-san, we should be there in a few hours." Robin replied frowning slightly for not getting exactly what she wanted but for the time being she was satisfied that the cook would be fine. After all it would be terrible if the off attitude of the cook would lead to a bad omen of him suddenly to falling into the sea and drown, with the fish eating away at his dead carcass.

Sanji only hummed in reply, mentally going over the list of things he needs to restock, completely oblivious to the morbid thoughts of the archaeologist.

As Sanji was checking the inventory he realized he needed more than he thought and decided he needed a pack mule. _Brook…no he'll attract too much attention, Franky will also attract too much attention, Luffy…no for obvious reasons, Chopper…too busy buying medicine, Usopp…will complain my ear off, ladies are out of the question, which leaves…the marimo._ Sanji thought. Eh not too bad, _But…I hope he'll just agree this time. I'm not in the mood for our usual banters._

"Would you like your coffee Robin-chan?"

"Yes, I would very much appreciate a cup of coffee"

"Morning" came a sleepy voice attracting the attention of the two current conversationalists.

"Why, good morning Navigator-san"

"Good morning Nami-swan~ breakfast will be ready soon~"

Nami only gave a mix of sounds as a reply and rested her head on the table closing her eyes before falling into a light doze. Only to be jolted awake again and give an annoyed growl at the familiar cry of a certain captain.

"SANJIIIII~MESHIIIII~"

"SHUT UP YOU PIECE OF RUBBER SHIT, BREAKFAST WILL BE READY SOON, JUST WAIT FOR FIVE FUCKING MINUTES!"

But as usual the captain of the Strawhats has as much patience and attention as a 3 year old when it comes to food…or anything. But Luffy can be serious when needed…mostly. Luffy came crashing in like a bull would charge at a red flag only to have a polished dress shoe to the face.

"I TOLD YOU TO WAIT, DAMNIT"

"But I'm hungry~" came the pitiful whine causing Sanji to sigh tiredly at his captain antics.

"When are you not hungry? Here have this for now and wait for breakfast." Sanji said throwing an apple to the captain earning a delighted 'Thanks Sanji!" before it was silent again with some of the more quiet crewmates. The normal occurrence of the chaos of breakfast came and went, with food going everywhere and yet mysteriously not wasting even a crumb, with the crew leaving to do their own things while they waited to reach the next island. As Sanji cleaned up another pair of hands came and began drying the dishes causing Sanji to look up. He was mildly surprised that the swordsman was the one helping but Sanji wasn't the type to turn down help to clean up after eating when offered, so he stayed quiet and continued washing in a comfortable silence with the swordsman. But as usual the silence never lasts long with these two.

"Marimo"

"Here shitty swordsman"

"Kelp head"

"Seaweed brains"

"Directionless child"

"…"

"Ma~rimo~"

"You've already said that!" Zoro shouted at the cook with shark teeth.

"I know, I just wanted to see how long it took before you snapped." Sanji smirked smugly back. "oh and also when we reach the next island I need you to play pack mule for me and carry supplies to ship with me."

"…" Zoro felt a vein pop on his forehead. _Forget Mihawk, this guy's gonna be the death of me._

Just as they finished drying the last dish they heard the excited cry from the younger crew mates of the ship.

"I SEE IT! I SEE THE ISLAND!"

"LAND AHOY!"

"Island~ Island~"

"SHUT UP!"

The last cry coming from the orange headed navigator following with three large sounds that sounded suspiciously like a fist coming down on three skulls.

It didn't take long to reach the island and everyone sorted what groups they're going and given their allowances on the island. Robin and Chopper set off for books and medicine, Nami went shopping, Franky went to buy supplies for ship repairs, Usopp was dragged off by a screaming Luffy and Brooke stayed behind to watch the ship. Sanji looked over at Zoro and felt his eye twitch when he saw the swordsman sleeping. Sanji walked over and kicked Zoro awake.

"Wake up shitty swordsman, you're playing pack mule for me remember?"

Zoro groaned and glared halfheartedly at the cook as he slowly got up; sleep still addling his brain for him to be able to argue back at the cook.

"And make sure you don't get lost this time got it? I'm not in the mood to look for your sorry ass later"

"…fine" Zoro grumbled. He soon found himself being dragged by the cook to the market. It didn't take long for the swordsman to realise the cook was holding his hand.

"Oi, why are you dragging me by my hand?"

"Unless you want to be dragged by the ear or be put on a dog leash this is the only way I can be sure you won't get lost."

"I don't get lost, the streets move by themselves!"

"You keep telling yourself that."

"…How come you're so comfortable with holding hands with me?"

"Why? Do you have a problem with this?" Sanji suddenly stopped in front of a stall and began inspecting the goods.

"No, I thought you would be the one that have problems with holding hands with a man, Cook. I thought you loved the ladies?"

"Technically when I'm dragging you by the hand I see it more as a babysitter dragging a toddler behind them rather than intimately Marimo." Zoro felt a vein pop and a small blush suddenly appear from embarrassment. "And besides, while I do love ladies, I've never said I didn't like men either."

That stopped all the excuses Zoro was trying to make up in his head that what the cook thought he was thinking was wrong. The cook…likes men? Zoro felt his brain trying to process the sudden information he gained from the man who was currently looking at a fruit that he doesn't even know if it even is a fruit.

"How long are you going to stand there with that dumb look on your face?"

That broke Zoro out of his thoughts. "You like men as well? How come you've never told us?"

"Well you've never asked before and I don't like flaunting my sexual preferences to just anyone. I honestly couldn't care less who knew, it's just constantly having homophobic people making comments about me becomes annoying and tiring so I mainly stay quiet about being bisexual."

"Then what about with all the flirting with women and treating men the exact opposite way? Aren't you slightly sexist?" Zoro asked after being quiet for a while.

"That's just how I was taught when I was growing up. You've seen the cooks at Baratie, all are male and have you've ever seen them treat each other nicely?" Sanji replied. Zoro went over this in his head and realized it made a lot of sense.

"And the part about me being sexist, I'm not. It's just I've seen all different types of people, Zoro, and a lot of them are girls and women of all ages suffering from depression and low self-esteem and worse. I've realized even giving them a small compliment can still give them hope and make their day, so if I'm the reason I can put a smile on their face you bet I will do the damn best I can to make sure they keep smiling, even if it means making a fool of myself and be discriminated by others" Sanji said with a certain fire in his eyes that made Zoro do a double take and found himself staring at Sanji. No insults, no cocky smirk, no snide remark, only a genuine answer that showed what the Cook thought and his insights. Zoro's respect for the man grew and he felt slightly ashamed at how he underestimated the cook and just judged him before knowing a bit more about the cook.

As Sanji finished up the shopping, with Zoro walking in front of him (so he doesn't get lost), they made their way back to the ship. They passed though the busy district and Sanji found himself enjoying the attractions and started looking around more (while still keeping an eye on the lost swordsman of course) when a familiar tune made him stop on his tracks.

 _Lavender's blue, dilly, dilly, Lavender's green_

 _When I am king, dilly, dilly, You shall be queen_

 _Who told you so, dilly, dilly, Who told you so?_

' _Twas my own heart,_ _dilly, dilly, That told me so_

Sanji vaguely realized at the back of his head that he dropped everything and began running towards the singing with Zoro shouting at him asking what's wrong.

 _Call up your men,_ _dilly, dilly, Set them to work_

 _Some to the plow,_ _dilly, dilly, Some to the fork_

 _Some to make hay,_ _dilly, dilly, Some to cut corn_

 _While you and I,_ _dilly, dilly, Keep ourselves warm_

Sanji was panting, looking around frantically and mumbling half-assed apologies to the people he bumped into, as he continued to search for the voice singing the song from his dream.

 _Lavender's green,_ _dilly, dilly, Lavender's blue_

 _If you love me,_ _dilly, dilly, I will love you_

 _Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly, Let the lambs play_

 _We shall be safe, dilly, dilly, Out of harm's way_

Sanji rounded around corners that eventually lead to a spacious place in the middle of the town that was isolated. They only other person there was a young woman wearing a black hood and the source of the music came from her. She didn't seem to notice Sanji standing there and continued to sing softly and sweetly.

 _I love to dance, dilly, dilly, I love to sing_

 _When I am Queen, dilly, dilly, You'll be my King_

 _Who told me so, dilly, dilly, Who told me so?_

 _I told myself, dilly, dilly, I told me so_

When the woman finally finished singing she sensed another person in her presence and turned sharply in Sanji's direction, only to freeze when she caught sight of him, only half of her face fully visible. Sanji was a bit unnerved when the woman continued staring at him before suddenly rising and moving towards where he was standing.

"Um, Miss? Are you alright?" Sanji asked nervously. "You're singing is lovely, by the way, I've never heard such a lovely voice before and as wandering where you've heard of the song before?" Sanji asked and he was telling the truth about her voice, it was lovely and light and sweet, only it sounded sad and lonely.

The girl walked right up to him and Sanji realized with surprise that she seem the same height as him.

"Miss?" Sanji started to feel uncomfortable with the silence the woman was giving and was about to open his mouth again but was shocked silent when the woman pulled back her hood. Blonde hair that only reached her shoulders, styled to show only a singular blue-grey eye that mirrored his own and…a curly eyebrow. Sanji was staring at what seems to be the perfect female version of himself. Suddenly he saw that the woman had tears in her eyes.

"Miss?! Are you alright?!" Sanji panicked at the sight of the woman crying for no apparent reason. He ceased his panicking when he felt a hand on his cheek and he stared at the woman that was connected to the hand. That was when the woman finally spoke.

"Finally" She whispered "I've finally found you, Sanji."

* * *

 _ ***acts nervous* PLEASE DON'T KILL ME*dives behind something and hides the Chopper way***_

 _ **Soo how was it? I would love it if you took time out of your day to R &R and I'm sorry I haven't included the other characters as much but I will get there! *fist pumps the air***_

 _ **Thank you for reading!**_

 _ **-Kagu-chan**_


	2. Past

**Hello again! I will try and update as much as I can and if you're confused about anything, do not worry everything will explained!**

 **(I feel like I've may have rushed this chapter...)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. If I did Zosan will be canon.**

* * *

" _Finally" She whispered "I've finally found you, Sanji."_

To say Sanji was surprised was an understatement. He was speechless, his mind whirling with a thousand questions, yet not one word made it past his lips. All he could do was stare at the crying woman. The moment the woman had said his name he remembered. _I know this woman._ Sanji thought shocked, _she was that girl in my dream._

He made no move even when the woman pulled back and retrieved something from her bag, hand twisted into a fist, hiding whatever she had in her hand.

"Here, you need to swallow this." The woman told Sanji, opening her fist and showing a bright blue orb that seemed alive, pulsing softly with a blue glow and swirls encircling it. Sanji hesitated. Sure, he would do anything to please a female, but having a woman that was supposed to only exist in his dream-that-is-possibly-a-memory and looked identical to you except in gender, cry and suddenly telling him to swallow a strange orb, was not normal and he had experienced a lot of weird creepy things and this ranked pretty high in his 'weird' level and 'creepy' level.

"Please, this will all make sense later. All I can tell you right now is that if you don't swallow this orb now your life will come to an end very soon. Don't question anything yet, I'll give you all the answers after you swallow that orb." The woman pleaded, but even then he still wouldn't move.

"Three questions." Sanji said, his mouth finally functioning and listening to him again. "Answer three questions and depending on your answers I'll do as you say."

The woman replied after thinking for a moment. "Seems reasonable, you don't have a reason to trust me yet. Very well, ask away."

"How do you know me? I've never met you before and if I had I would have definitely remembered you." _Considering you look like the perfect female version of me. Definitely would remember that._

The woman smiled sadly. "I've known you a long time ago, Sanji. You were important to me as I was important to you. Certain…events had happened, so I'm not surprised you don't remember me."

"Can you give me proof that you've known me for a long time?" Sanji decided to ask next, cringing mentally at how untrusting he was being, but being a wanted pirate taught you to be constantly on your toes.

"I know you don't remember the first nine years of your life" Was the answer, shocking Sanji. _How?_ Sanji wondered. _No one knows I don't remember the first nine years of my life except myself. I didn't even tell Luffy or Zeff this and yet, how does she know? ...but she does seem familiar, is that why?_

Sanji finally relaxed, as he reached for the orb, surprising the woman, before he asked his last question. "What is your name, Miss?"

"My name is Sami." Was the last thing Sanji heard before all he could see was darkness.

* * *

"Where the hell did that stupid cook go?" Zoro grumbled as he walked around the town trying to find the cook.3 hours later with absolute no sign of the cook and town suddenly became a forest, Zoro finally came to a conclusion.

 _Tch, the shitty cook got himself lost again_

As Zoro continued grumbling as he tried to make his way out of the forest he thought about the weird way at how the cook had frozen in his tracks and when Zoro was about to ask what's wrong (insulting him) the cook suddenly bolted like his ass was on fire or when like the time when they went to an island infested with huge ass bugs. Everyone have their fears, oh but it was hilarious watching the cook and the witch running all around the island screaming their heads off. But then again the screaming got annoying after a while so they left as soon as the log pose had reset much to everyone's relief.

Going back on track and moving out of his amusing thoughts, Zoro became serious. _But, really what was wrong with the cook? He looked like he seen ghost or something…well maybe not a ghost, a ghost wouldn't shock him that badly…but still, what the hell did he see that made him react like that?_ Zoro thought, not realizing he had somehow made his way back to the ship until a voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, Swordsman-san I thought Cook-san was with you?"

"He was, but stupid cook got himself lost again" Zoro replied.

"Sure it wasn't you who lost Cook-san?"

"…No, he ran off by himself. But he was acting weird."

"Weird?" Robin frowned slightly. "How so?"

"He was acting fine when suddenly he seemed to freeze and then he bolted of somewhere."

Robin frowned even more. "How long have you've lost him?"

"…Around three hou- HEY" Zoro yelped, which he will later deny ever making such a noise, when an arm appeared on his shoulder and whapped him on the head.

"You've lost him for that long and you're this calm? Normally Cook-san would be back by know with the shopping and I've been at the ship for about an hour already with no sign of him at all and Brooke hasn't seen him either." Robin answered sharply, highly resembling a mother scolding her child for being careless…which in this is possibly the case, minus the fact it wasn't 'mother and son'.

Zoro scratched his head. "Then do want to go look for him?"

"If you mean 'Can you help me look for him so I don't get lost as well' then I will gladly come along"

"SHUT UP, WOMAN"

A soft giggle was his only reply, but he was genuinely worried about the cook. Having nearly the exact same thoughts, Robin remembered her morning conversation with the cook and became slightly worried. _I hope he's alright. It would be terrible if we found him lying in an alley, chopped up in pieces, his head missing and with his blood everywhere._

As Robin and Zoro began searching for Sanji, they increasingly became more worried (the latter completely denying that he was worried for the stupid idiot) as they still found no sign of the cook anywhere. They've already gone back to the ship several times and the cook hasn't gone back yet, according to others. They've nearly covered the whole town and it was starting to get dark.

 _Goddamn it, Cook where the fuck are you?_ Zoro thought, never acknowledging that he may or may not be worried (he is) knowing that the cook can take of himself, no need to worry right? Or that was what he thought an hour ago. It was now fully night time and still no sign of the cook. Robin, who had been leading the search, finally went to her last resort.

"Swordsman-san, I believe you should lead us. Your terrible sense of direction might get us somewhere that seems impossible to find others except you."

"…are complimenting me or insulting me?" Zoro asked in a peeved voice.

"Both."

"…" Zoro felt a vein pop. _I need to travel to the past to slap past me in the face. Why did I choose to be with this crew?_ Because Luffy would lead to him to his dream, because these people are what he considers as his second family, because he doesn't want to think what would happen if he had never met these people and many other reasons. _Damnit._

Surprisingly,(not surprising, considering Robin came up with the idea) they did find a small pathway that they haven't noticed before.

"…"

"It actually worked. You, for once in your life had managed to get to the right place even with no sense of direction. Congratulations."

"SHUT UP WOMAN" Zoro yelled before rubbing his forehead in frustration. "You know what? Never mind let's just go."

"fufufu" Robin chuckled. "Swordsman-san? You're walking in the opposite direction."

"…I knew that."

They walked for another few minutes before walking into a small area. Zoro immediately reached for his swords and attacked just as Robin crossed her arms. They both saw the same thing, a robed figure with an unconscious Sanji. They weren't the only one who raised their guard, though, the robed figure also tensed and whipped out a dagger that blocked Zoro's sword. All three stared the other down with glares in silence. Robin decided to speak up.

"Who are you and what have you done with Cook-san?" She demanded. The robed figure relaxed slightly in confusion before tensing again, glancing warily at Zoro and Robin.

"Do you mean Sanji? He's absolutely fine. I would rather die than see any more harm come to him." the robed figure answered with a female voice. This caused both pirates to pause and stare at the robed figure now identified as a woman. "You're part of the Strawhat crew right? I've seen your wanted posters, Nico Robin and Roronoa Zoro."

"What is your objective?" Zoro demanded. The robed figure moved her attention slightly to Zoro but still kept an eye on Robin. _Smart fighter, high guard, looks like she can handle fighting more than one opponent and seems to use close combat but she could always have more daggers hidden in her robe._ Zoro assessed in his head.

"I did have an objective, but it has already has been done. Please put down your sword, if Sanji wakes up he would not be happy with how you're treating a lady…especially if this lady is his sister."

As she finished speaking she pulled back her hood. Zoro and Robin were as shocked as they saw the perfect female version of their cook. They slowly let down their guard as they stared at the young woman. Zoro, being the closest, stared intently. The same eyes, same hair styled to hide half her face, she even has the same dumb curly eyebrow. Even her body type seemed similar to the cook; tall, lean and fragile-looking, but if this woman was anything like the cook Zoro knew, than she would be the exact opposite of fragile. Zoro made the mistake of underestimating the cook's power when they first fought; earning a healthy blue and purple bruise that had hurt like a bitch for two weeks. Besides the woman had managed to block his sword, that is already an uneasy feat, considering that Zoro will not hold back whether his opponent is a man or woman.

Zoro sheathed his swords and Robin uncrossed her arms and when the cook look-alike made sure they both had their guard down she slowly lowered her dagger as well but still kept tense, putting a protective arm around Sanji.

"You should come back with us to the ship, I'm pretty sure you and the cook will have a lot of explaining to do." Zoro decided going over the options in his head. The woman nodded and Zoro picked of the cook piggy-back style as they started to make their way back to the ship.

"Wait, if Cook-san is fine, then why is he unconscious?" Robin asked, Zoro looking over as well and waited for an answer.

"His brain is currently working as fast as it can to process an overload of information and he needs all of his energy to do this; that is why he is unconscious." Both pirates frowned at the answer.

"How did his brain come to this state?" Robin asked.

"I gave him something that made him this way and before you kill me, let me tell you that it's good for him. I've spent my whole life searching for him just to give him this and I was also running with time on this. If I never found him any sooner than this then his life would have been cut short and he would have died."

"He could have died?" Robin repeated shocked. "What did Cook-san do to have his life cut short?"

"Sanji, being the stupid self-sacrificing idiot he is, gave up his life so he could save me and other people who were very important to both of us." The woman answered bitterly but with a faint fond undertone when she looked back down at Sanji.

"Did Sanji make deal with the devil himself or something? Ow! Hey! It was a legitimate question! Zoro asked, the last part of his sentence aimed at Robin who blossomed a hand and whapped his head again.

"No, he did not." The woman smiled amused at the antics of the two strange pirates in front of her before frowning slightly again. "He made a bet with his life and power. It worked which is why I needed to find him again so I could give it back to him."

"What exactly happened then?" Zoro asked, finally not being an idiot.

"I believe it would be best for me if I explained this in front of the whole crew, especially with your captain." The woman replied. "I will explain everything around Sanji and me."

"Do you mind telling us your name as well?" Robin asked.

"Oh how rude of me, allow me to introduce myself, I'm Sami." The girl replied, bowing politely at the two pirates.

Zoro and Robin finally fell silent and the group slowly made their way back to the ship due to some…detours made by a certain swordsman.

"…is your sense of direction really that bad?" Sami finally asked, after running into another dead end. "Really, marimo? Never in my life have I've ever met someone with a sense of direction as bad as yours."

"DON'T CALL ME MARIMO!" Zoro shouted with shark teeth.

"Why, does my baby brother already call you marimo?" Sami asked. Zoro didn't answer but a vein did pop on his forehead. "I see, you don't want me taking over the pet name my brother has for you, how cute. Ok then, how about the Grinch?" Sami smirked.

All Zoro did was make a sound that sounded more animal than human. "I can see the sibling resemblance." He growled out, glaring at the still smirking Sami. _What's a 'Grinch'?_

Robin giggled before looking over at Sami curiously. "Baby brother? Is Sanji younger than you?"

"Yes, but he always gets really annoyed with me whenever I call him that; saying that I'm not that much older than him." Sami laughed.

"How much older are you?"

"2 mins."

"Oh? You two are twins?"

"Sanji can get annoyed at a girl?"

"Yes, we are twins and yes he can get annoyed at a girl, he just doesn't show it as much and the only one, who he actually shows annoyance outwardly to, is to me." Sami answered both questions staring slightly at Zoro. "He's not a saint, he can still get annoyed at a girl but he has really good self-control. And also, I've yet to see a healthy sibling relationship never fight each other."

When Sami was introduced to the rest of the crew, it wasn't handled as calmly as Zoro and Robin hoped, but then again these are the Strawhats, none of them will take things calmly.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

"Hello, it's very nice to meet you all! My name is Sami and I'm Sanji's twin sister!"

"WHAT!?"

"SANJI HAS A SISTER!?"

"WAH! SANJI'S UNCONSCIOUS! DOCTER! Oh wait that's me."

"MMMM, SUUUPER!"

"May I see your panties? Yohohohoho!"

"ALL OF YOU JUST SHUT UP!"

Several screams and punches later, (with Zoro and Robin sweat dropping at the crew's antics and a very amused Sami) the crew finally settled down before asking in slightly calmer fashion.

"So care to explain what the hell is going on?" Nami demanded, her fist still slightly steaming from punching all the male crewmembers (except Sanji and Zoro), with the mentioned sitting behind her with several new bumps and bruises.

"First of all, what is wrong with Sanji?" Nami asked, looking over at her unconscious nakama. This immediately caught the rest of the crew's attention as they glanced at the cook with concerned and worried looks.

"I'll explain everything but I need absolutely every single one of you to pay attention, are there any more crewmembers?" Sami asked.

"No." Luffy replied, in one of his serious moods. "Everyone's here."

"I would also like to ask you all that if you have anymore questions, please wait until I have finished explaining." Sami looked at each of the crewmembers and when she gained nod of approval from all of them she smiled. "Then let's begin shall we?"

* * *

 _As I said before I am Sanji's twin sister, Sami. Sanji's brain is currently undergoing major processing of information overload so he needs to all of his energy to do this. Why his brain is like this is because he currently sorting through memories and knowledge of a previous life he had. You see, we're not normal human beings, we were what you would call demons; Sanji and I are nine-tailed fox demons._

 _We were originally children that were suffering from cancer and were already classified to die at a young age by the doctors and our parents were heartbroken. They were desperate for us to live and did everything they can to keep us living. When Sanji and I were both five, our parents received a letter that was about a top secret science project that was run by the government and that their children were chosen and there was a possible chance for us to live again with healthier bodies and new lives. Our parents were delighted and they gained hope again, but there was a catch._ _ **If**_ _we did live through the experiment, we would go through an extreme change and the massive amount of chemicals they would inject in us could lead us to losing our memories and would be equivalent to having to start life over again. We would be given new healthier bodies but with no memories of our parents and the government had said they weren't allowed to inform us of anything we don't remember, including that they were our parents. There was also the high possibility that were still wouldn't live but our parents chose to risk it and we were handed to the government for them to experiment on. All I remember was waking up in a white room with absolutely no idea what was going on. I had no memory of who I was and I remembered feeling terrified. The scientists and doctors explained everything to me that I have a new life and used to be diagnosed with cancer and that I have a twin brother. At the mention of this I immediately asked where he was but I was told that the chemicals weren't as compatible with him as it was with me and he was currently in a coma. There was a possible chance he wouldn't survive, I was told and they took me away. It was then I realised I was not given a normal human body but that of a demon when I looked in the mirror and noticed I had a tail and fox ears with yellow fox eyes._

 _Every day they would train me how to use my powers and every day I would always go to visit Sanji at least once. I was still given freedom and I gained a new family with the others that survived the experiment and the doctors and scientists. But even then I still was hoping and wishing that my brother would survive, even though I didn't have any memory of having him as a brother I still felt a connection every time I saw him. I've been told many times before that males were less likely to live than females were and that I shouldn't keep my hopes up, but I kept praying ad continued to visit him. When I was eight years old, Sanji had been in a coma for three years. It was frightened me sometimes, seeing all the different tubes and machines connected to him to keep him alive, only the constant beeping of his heart monitor had reassured me that he was actually alive and not dead._

 _It was only when I visited him again on our ninth birthday, did I see a slight flutter of his eyelids. I don't really remember a lot from that time, I remembered a lot of rushing and shouting as Sanji woke up and panicking. It was painful at first. Sanji, when he woke up was emotionless for a while, trusting no one but me, and even then he kept me at a distance. He wasn't use to suddenly be able to feel more than the bed on his back and a sudden onslaught of emotions. Not only that, he was still extremely weak. It had taken a few more weeks before he could be disconnected from a machine that would keep him healthy and even more before he could even eat solid food. He needed assistance when he had to walk long distances and wasn't allowed to overexert himself. He was angry at himself for being so weak and would push anyone trying to get close to him away. Too bad for him our new family isn't the type to give up. We tried constantly to talk to him, to get him to open up more. We taught him how to feel again, taught him what it was like to love and be loved, when we saw him smile for the first time at us the effect he had was surreal. He was immediately tackled into hugs and some were even crying tears of joy at the sight. Even when he treated us coldly, he still somehow managed to find a place in all of our hearts without him even trying._

 _We were given a new life; education, a bed to sleep, food and a loving, nutcase job of a family. We did what we wanted with our life and had our own goals and dreams. No one knows about their previous families, we only know basic things from the files they gave us with information on it and were given a single object that was our old life and a letter from our parents. Our parents gave us a music box and they wrote to us how much they loved us and were sorry they could no longer be a part of our lives. Whenever Sanji or I had nightmares we would just wind up the music box and listen to it and it would calm us down._

 _Something happened one day, and I will not further elaborate on that, which led to almost having our whole family killed. Sanji was the one that saved us but it was at price that he could not possibly pay back within his lifetime and would most likely stick with him forever. He made a bet, with his powers as a demon and to gain immense amount of power he would give away his life. As nine-tailed foxes, the more tails we have the more powerful we are, both of us could only handle up to 6 tails before it starts to cause potential harm to ourselves and anymore tails we gain would shorten our lives or cause permanent damage to our bodies. What happened was that Sanji, being the idiot he is, had tried to take on the power of 9 tails to save us and it worked. He shortened his life by half, he was back in a coma for 5 months and when he woke up he was only concerned that if everyone was alright. Not only that, he lost all of his powers as a demon and gave it all to me so I could live. He gave me his Fox Orb that kept us alive and safe from our previous cancer. He was going to die and he damn knew it too. He was in pain for weeks often screaming and crying in his sleep. The idiot didn't even regret it and even embraced the pain if it meant seeing his loved ones safe. He died in my arms. I don't remember crying so many tears in my life._

 _When demons die they reincarnate at the age when they became one and since I was five and Sanji was nine when we were born as demons, it would mean that we reincarnate at the age of five and nine. I was still born four years before Sanji so we're still the same age as we were in our past life (to his great annoyance I bet). However because of him giving his Fox Orb to me he would not remember his past life and his life would still be cut short and he would have no idea about it. If I had not given back his Fox Orb, one day he would start having fits and eventually die for an unknown reason._

* * *

The crew was shocked. Sami's story seemed so unlikely and far-fetched and she was prepared to be laughed at or asked if she was right in the head or at the very least asked how it was possible. However the crew didn't do any of these, they did something completely different to what she expected.

"Sanji-kun will be alright, right!?"

"Does he need to have a check-up!?"

"Are you sure he won't die!?"

"Cook-bro, has been though a lot of tough shit."

"Cool! Sanji has mystery powers!"

The one who made the last statement earned a new collection of bumps on his head.

Sami stared at the crew for a bit before throwing back her head and started laughing. _You've got yourself a nice crew baby brother._

"You're a nice crew." Sami stated with a grin before becoming serious. "But if there is any harm that comes to my baby brother, I swear it will be on your heads and I will have them." Glaring at every one of the members, startling them when they saw her eyes suddenly turned yellow and fox-like. Her glare nearly gave Chopper and Usopp a heart attack and even Robin felt a chill crawl down her spine. Only Luffy had met Sami's glare full on and after staring at each other for a bit Luffy grinned.

"Yosh, I've decided!" Luffy said. "You're going to be one of our Nakama!"

"Eh?" Sami stared. She looked eat every other crew members to make sure they knew what their captain was stating and when all she got were encouraging grins, she turned towards Luffy with a smirk.

"Well, I need to keep an eye on all of you to make sure you're taking my threat seriously." Sami's smirk turned into a grin that could rival Luffy's.

"I'll join your crew, Monkey D. Luffy!"

* * *

 **Wah I feel like I messed up the chapter somehow .**

 **Please R &R! (it would make me very happy)**

 **\- Kagu-chan**


	3. Tails and Ears

**Hello again! Did I ever tell how much I love foxes? No? Then FOXES ARE SO ADORABLE AND AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL AND DID I SAY ADORABLE? YES? BECAUSE THEY ARE!**

 ***ahem* sorry about that. Anyways. on with the story! :D**

 **Disclaimer: Oda is a successful man that is making milloins. Me? I'm gain nothing from this but my own enjoyment :D (and slowly ruining my life)**

* * *

 _The passengers of The Orbit were all snotty nobles and wealthy people who most likely never suffered a single hardship in their life. It was expected, since The Orbit was a high class boat, but there was a passenger that was neither noble nor wealthy, even if he looked the part. Blond hair, neat appearance and an intelligent mind of one that was educated, however is still a child and will act like one._

" _All Blue exists!" a small angry voice cried out._

" _C'mon Sanji, how much longer are you gonna stay mad at us?" One of the ship's chefs asked the angry child. "You're young now, but when you're older you'll understand why when we tell you finding the All Blue won't happen! It's mythical ocean that's nothing more than a fairy tale and you'll be wasting your natural talent at cooking by chasing after it!"_

" _The All Blue does exists." Now the angry child was sulking and ignoring the chef completely._

 _The chef sighed. "Nothing will convince you, huh? Such a shame…" The child just continued sulking with a childish pout on his face. The chef sighed again; he's being doing it a lot lately and resorted to his secret weapon._

" _Hey, Sanji, I heard one of the fishermen had caught an extremely rare fish and I was going to ask you to help me cook it, but if you want to keep sulking then I'll just have to ask one of the other chefs…"_

" _Ah! Wait! Don't you dare cook that fish without me!"_

 _Sanji immediately jumped up and ran after the older chef who was chuckling at how different this child was from any other he had met, but still a child nevertheless._

 _Sanji was found on the ship one day with no memories of himself except his name and absolutely no one knew where he had come from. The captain of the ship thought little about it and just let the young boy become a part of the crew as a busy boy. The young boy was intelligent for his age and had a sharp tongue and often drove a lot of the older crew members up the walls. But they were fond of him and wouldn't change anything about him._

* * *

Sanji woke up groggily and winced and held his head. He glared dully at nothing in particular and realised he was laying on the bed in the ship's infirmary. He looked at the window in the infirmary and saw daylight. _Why do mornings always have to come so early?_ Sanji thought grumpily, _seems like my hate of mornings has just doubled along with gaining my old memories of my previous life._ and speaking of previous lives and shit.

 _Sami._ Sanji jolted. _Where is she?_ Sanji immediately threw back the covers of the bed he was lying in and ran out the door onto the deck as he looked around frantically.

"Sanji! You're awake!" A squeaky voice cried out happily. "Ah wait! You shouldn't be moving so much! What if you're suffering from brain damage!?"

"SANJI! MAKE ME FOOD!"

"Sanji? Are you ok?"

"Cook-bro seems SUUUUPER!"

"She's in the kitchen."

Sanji turned his attention to the only helpful person and was surprised it was Zoro. Nevertheless, he gave the swordsman a nod in thanks and ran into the kitchen and saw his sister having a conversation with Robin and Nami.

"Sami!"

Said person froze and turned her attention towards Sanji, she stared at him for a bit before getting up and walking over to Sanji. Then she slapped him. Hard.

"Ow! What was that for?" Sanji complained (whined). But he knew why, and he knew Sami knew as well.

"You damn hell know exactly what that was for, you fucking twat!" Sami screamed, tears pouring down her face. "Do you know how much shit I had to go through? How I worried I was every day of the past fucking fourteen years of my life? When I woke up in this world the first thought I had was to find you. I was constantly having nightmares that when I find you it would be too late and I would have to watch you die in my arms again. Then you went and made yourself a pirate, well that's just fan-fucking-crap-tastic. You nearly gave me a heart attack every damn time I read the stupid shit you and your crew done in the newspaper. Declaring war on the World Government? A 77 million bounty? What the fuck were you thinking you crazy, fucking, self-sacrificing idiot of a brother!"

As Sami finished screaming at Sanji, she hugged him and sobbed. The rest of the crew had come in to see what the commotion was about and were met with the amusing sight. They glanced questioningly at the ones who was there for the whole time… which was useless since all the other female members did was smile at the scene of the two twins hugging.

Sanji, to put it plainly, had absolutely no idea what to do in this situation. He felt guilty after hearing what his sister had to go through because of him but at the same time he was extremely happy to be able to see his sister again. It has been eleven years since he last saw her and even longer for her since she last saw him. After going through his options of which will least likely get him killed, Sanji hugged Sami back and he felt her grip tighten around him.

"I'm sorry." Sanji mumbled into his sister's shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that for me. I'm such a useless brother and I fail as a gentleman, being the cause of a lady's tears and my sister's grief. I'm sorry; I don't qualify as your brother."

"Hmph, even with all the shit I went through, I'll still consider you my baby brother no matter what."

"You're only older by 2 mins." Sanji smiled at the familiarity.

"Still older." Sami smiled back with a nearly identical smile to Sanji. Sanji just rolled his eye and gave his beloved sister a kiss on the cheek while Sami giggled and wiped away her tears.

"Yosh, let's party!" Luffy cried out when he was sure the twins were no longer going to fight. This was followed by the cheer by everyone. That's when Sami suddenly remembered.

"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you but I'm now part of the Strawhats. I'm the dancer!"

"You couldn't have mentioned that earlier?!"

"Shishishishi, Salmon's funny!"

"Um, it's Sami."

Soon the party was in full swing, with the crew trying to get to know their new nakama asking questions both relevant and stupid. _She fits in with the crew perfectly._ Sanji thought happily as he made plate after plate of delicious food.

"Thanji! Sa'i tol a ya a fof! (Sanji! Sami told us you're a fox!)

"Apparently you have fox ears and tails! Can you show us?"

"Please show us!"

Sanji sweat dropped at the sparkles in the Idiot Trio's eyes before sighing, while all Sami did was laugh.

"Why don't we show them together, Baby Brother?"

"When are you going to drop that nickname?"

"Never."

"…Fine."

Suddenly, Zoro started laughing. "I like your sister. She really knows how to put you in your place, like the idiot you are."

"What did you say, you national treasure?"

"You heard what I said, curlicue."

That was all it took before all hell broke loose and the cook and swordsman were immediately at each other's throats and screamed profanities at each other. Nami felt a headache coming but before she could snap and punch them like usual to make them stop, someone else beat her to it and made them cease all fighting with only a small statement.

"Your two fight like an old married couple. Are you a thing?" Sami asked, curiously and immediately both the cook and swordsman froze. "You sure act like you're in a relationship."

All Zoro and Sanji did was slowly turn towards Sami with horrified looks on their faces that looked like they just faced their worst nightmare. The rest of the crew just tried not to laugh.

"Me? With him? HELL NO!" they both shouted. "Hey! Don't say what I say! Stop that! No, you stop it! STOP!

Sami blinked. "So you're not a thing? You sure?"

"NO!"

"No as in you're not sure or…?"

"WE'RE NOT A THING"

"…I still think you two would make a cute couple."

Usopp couldn't take it anymore; he burst out laughing and immediately caused a chain effect on the rest of the crew. Soon the whole ship was laughing their asses off. To say the least, Zoro and Sanji were not amused.

"…10 second truce, cook?"

"I can agree to that much time."

Soon screaming and explosions came from the ship and by the time Zoro and Sanji's 'little' rampage ended most of the male crewmembers gained a new set of bumps and bruises and poor Sunny was half destroyed (much to the outrage of a certain shipwright). Unsurprisingly none of the female members had even a single scratch. After all it wouldn't be good idea to piss off someone who was originally an assassin, a person who could have you swimming in debt for the rest of your life and a demon. As much as Zoro wanted to cut the witch, he knew he couldn't, so the male members will have to do.

"Aw, look they're already getting along!"

"The ship has sailed people! I repeat the Ship has sailed!"

"What would be their couple name? Zosan? Or maybe even Sanzo?"

Zoro felt a vein throb. "…if you're gonna think of me and the ero-cook in a relationship, do not make me a bottom. Do you hear me?

"…then the decided name will be Zosan!"

"Sami!" Sanji cried out. "How can you do this to your own brother?! And marimo! Why am I the bottom?!"

"Because does it look like I'm the type to take things in the ass?"

"Does it look like I do either?" Sanji snapped back.

"Yes."

"Oh I know! How about ZoSanZo? Then everyone's happy!" Sami suggested with a big smile.

"NO! THEY WILL NOT BE HAPPY!"

Sanji turned towards his sister. "Sami, what made you think that someone like me would be a good match with that guy?!"

"Oh come on! You know I have an inner shipper to tame and the only way to tame it is to find several cute or sexy couples for me to ship! I'm running out of OTPs here!" Sami replied. "And I still think you and Mr Photosynthesis over there would make a cute couple."

"Don't make me part of your shipping fantasy!" Sanji cried again before his face gained a bland look. "You know what? I'm done with this shit. Luffy, you said you wanted to see my fox form right? Well, prepare to be amazed."

With that Sanji suddenly was surrounded by a wall of bright blue flames, making the crew cry out in shock, the only one that remaining calm was Sami. When the wall of flames cleared in the place of the cook was a golden fox with black tipped ears and tails with little glowing blue orbs floating around the tails. The fox struck a pose that seemed to say 'Tada' before it suddenly _flew_ in a burst of flames and landed on top of the roof of the crow's nest.

"…"

"WOW! THAT'S SO COOL!"

"THAT WAS AWESOME!"

"SANJI! COME BACK!"

"Don't bother, once Sanji turns into his full fox form it means he wants to be left alone." Sami told the younger members, who weren't even listening and were practically as bright as the sun with how impressed they were, surrounded by sparkles. _Why am I even bothering? They weren't even listening anyway_.

' _Damn right, I've had enough of stupidity today.'_ Suddenly Sanji voice rang clearly in their minds, shocking the members of the Sunny. They looked at each other for confirmation they weren't the only ones hearing things. A nod from everyone proved that they haven't been knocked off their rocker. Yet.

"Cook-san? You're capable of telepathy?" Robin asked in the cook's direction.

' _Yes, both of us are capable of telepathy. You can actually have a conversation with Sami and I by only thinking what you want to say and we'll answer. This also isn't our only form, we can gain half human and half fox features too. It heightens our senses and we have the six sense that animals are capable of.'_

"Sounds like an amazing power." Nami muttered, still mystified at what she had just seen. Sanji as a fox was very majestic and beautiful, with silk-like fur and fluffy tails swaying behind him and the blue orbs were mesmerising. Not to mention the yellow eyes and the (curly) marks across his face and just having a general glow around him that made him seem like a spirit.

"I'm joining the cook, seems like we're on the same wavelength, as disturbing as it seems. I've had enough stupidity too, I'm going to train." Zoro grumbled grabbing several bottles of booze as company before climbing the ladders towards the crow's nest for his (unplanned) watch. The rest of the crew just looked at each other and shrugged and continued to party until they passed out.

 _4997…4998…4999…5000!_ Zoro grunted just as he finished his 5000 chin ups with a 500kg weighing him down. As he reached for a 1000kg weight to start his 10,000 push ups he heard a tapping on the window. Zoro looked up and saw the cook tapping on the window pointing at the lock on the window and scowled when Zoro pretended he was suddenly deaf and tried to ignore the shitty fox-cook. He was not in the mood for his ear to be screamed off which would escalate to another fight, but the tapping just became more insistent before it went to banging on the window. Zoro made a frustrated sound that resembled a dying animal and walked over to the window and unlocked it. Sanji wasn't happy either. The two just glared at each other for a bit before Zoro left the window in a huff and went to back to his weights. The window opened and Sanji sat on the couch, before watching the swordsman train. They continued to have a comfortable silence with Zoro training and Sanji relaxing and studying the swordsman.

"…how long are you going to keep staring at me?" Zoro asked, starting to get unnerved being watched so closely. He expected this from Robin but this is extremely out of character for the cook. The shitty fox just stared at him some more before getting up and walked over. Zoro stared at the fluid movements of the fox and he found thinking that it looked extremely graceful and mesmerising… it was very pretty. _Pretty? Since when was the cook pretty?_ Zoro shook his head.

"How much longer are you going to shake your head like a wet dog?"

At the insult Zoro head snapped up to growl at the cook but froze at the sight. The cook was no longer a fox but back to a human…not a complete human at least, his ears and tails were still there and so were the blue orbs floating around him and he still had the glow that seemed to surround his body. Zoro previous definition changed from pretty to, _Beautiful_ Zoro thought before mentally slapping himself. _No, stop! That's the shitty cook! We're rivals! And he's bisexual._ His brain helpfully supplied. _Stupid brain._

"How do your powers work? Do they affect you?" Zoro decided to ask to distract himself from his confusing thoughts and to keep from looking like an idiot. Sanji just sat down again and gestured to the spot next to him for Zoro to sit down on.

"This will take some time so might as well get comfortable." Sanji said, as Zoro sat down. "And make sure you listen, you brain dead marimo." All animalistic noises made by the swordsman were ignored.

"I have three forms; my full fox form, my half fox form and my human form, I'm currently in my half fox form and before you saw my full fox form. These blue orbs that are floating around me are all small fragments of my Fox Orb or otherwise known as Hoshi No Tama and they hold a great portion of my powers. My powers increase with the amount of tails I gain and it's not just my powers either, my strength, my stamina, my senses increase along with it. The maximum amount of tails I can gain is 9 tails, but so far I can only gain 6 before it starts affecting me. This can vary between just making me tired and I can sleep it off or worse-case scenario it shortens my life and causes permanent damage either physically or mentally and how long it would affect me will depend on how badly I abused my powers."

As this was mentioned Zoro remembered what Sami had said and Sanji's words at Thriller Bark not too long ago.

' _What happened was that Sanji, being the idiot he is, had tried to take on the power of 9 tails to save us and it worked. He shortened his life by half, he was back in a coma for 5 months and when he woke up he was only concerned that if everyone was alright.'_

' _Just ignore this marimo swordsman… if you must kill somebody, then just take my life…!'_

' _He gave me his Fox Orb that kept us alive and safe from our previous cancer. He was going to die and he damn knew it too. He was in pain for weeks often screaming and crying in his sleep. The idiot didn't even regret it and even embraced the pain if it meant seeing his loved ones safe.'_

' _Oi… tell everyone… to take care… and that you'll have to find yourselves another chef!'_

' _He died my arms.'_

Zoro lowered his head and his eyes darkened. "Oi" He interrupted Sanji.

"What shitty swordsman? Don't interrupt me, you kel-"

"Value yourself more."

Sanji blinked. "Huh?"

"Value yourself more." Zoro repeated, looking up and staring right into Sanji's eye. "Your sister was right about you being a self-sacrificing idiot. You always do stupid shit that no one asked you to do and you throw away life too easily for the sake of others. Asshole! Have you even thought about how your death could have affected the others?! What about your dream?! What about ALL BLUE?! DON'T THROW AWAY EVERYTHING SO EASILY, YOU SHITTY COOK!

Zoro was shouting by the time he finished, panting slightly and glaring at Sanji. Surprisingly, Sanji didn't say anything; he just took out one of his cancer sticks, lit it and took in a lungful of the toxic smoke. As Sanji finished blowing it out he stubbed the cigarette before suddenly swinging out and kicking the surprised swordsman onto his back. Before Zoro could even register what happened, Sanji had already straddled him and took in a fistful of the swordsman's shirt.

"Do you want to know why I would give up my dream, my life and everything about me so easily? Sanji asked quietly, his curtain of golden hair covering his face. "My dream isn't like yours or Luffy's or anyone else's on this ship. All of you have a chance, no matter how small, of accomplishing it. You, with enough training can become the world's greatest swordsman, Luffy will definitely become the Pirate King, Nami had already gathered so many maps for her map of the world, Usopp is already half a brave sea warrior and all the others have done something that is bringing them closer to their dream. Me? My dream still has the possibility of not being real at all and that all I have been doing was chasing a fairy tale. I know in my heart that the All Blue is out there but there's still a reality I need to face. I need to be prepared for my dream never coming true because reality is cruel like that." Sanji finally looked at Zoro in the eye, blue meeting brown with raw emotions showing through. Soon the blue eye softened and Sanji's fist in Zoro's shirt loosened. "So I made another dream."

"Another dream?" Zoro stared back at the cook, momentarily stunned at how open the cook was being.

Sanji nodded. "If I couldn't find All Blue, I wanted to die knowing that each and every one of you will be safe. If my dream can't come true then I damn hell will make sure that everyone else's will come true instead. I will sacrifice anything for everyone's dreams and that includes yours." Sanji said with conviction and a small sad smile. "Besides, if All Blue does exist, what's the point if not all of my precious nakama are there for me to cook delicious food for? You know All Blue is like a paradise for sea chefs, but what's the point of making the food and not have anyone important to them eat it?"

Zoro was dumbstruck. He knew Sanji was not a very open person, despite wearing his heart on his sleeve and easily being able to see his emotions, the cook was more distant from the crew than the others. Nami and Robin have a sister bond, Usopp and Luffy are best friends, Brook and Franky bond over their love for music and he always had a soft spot for Chopper. True, Sanji loved their nakama as much as they loved each other but he doesn't seem as involved as others, often acting out on his own without telling anyone. Yet here he is, pouring his heart out to Zoro of all people, not one of his precious ladies or even the captain, but to _him_. Zoro got up and awkwardly hugged Sanji and he felt the cook stiffen slightly before relaxing again. Zoro was never a one for words, being more a 'actions speak louder than words' guy and it was weird trying to have a heart to heart conversations with his 'rival' but he needed the cook to get the message.

"I still think you're an idiot for throwing everything away so easily." Zoro began, his chin resting on Sanji's shoulder and the cook snarled and was about to continue arguing before Zoro continued. "You don't need to take so much weight onto your shoulders, you stupid cook, you have a sister who spent half of her life looking for you to save your life, you have nakama that are always worried about you doing stupid things and you have a dream you still need to accomplish. You're not alone; let the people around you shoulder the weight as well."

At these words Sanji went quiet. He thought about the swordsman's words before opening his mouth again.

"I won't guarantee that I will stop putting the others dreams before me, I wouldn't even think twice about giving my life away if it saves the crew." Zoro opened his mouth. "Don't even try to argue with me on that topic, you hypocrite." Zoro's mouth snapped shut and he began to sputter out gibberish that made no sense to either of them. Sanji smiled shushing the swordsman effectively with what he said next. "But I will try, I will try and allow others to help me and shoulder my weight. I know I'm the 'self-sacrifice' type and it won't stop me from trying to save them if the cost is just my life… but I will try."

Zoro was going to protest some more but in the end just sighed because he knew he can't win this argument against the cook and the two fell into a comfortable silence again. _His hair smells nice… and it feels soft…_ Zoro thought before jerking at what he was thinking. _Stop it Zoro! You sound like a perv! Oh his tails look so fluffy, and his ears look like they're soft too… I want to pet them… No! Stop!_

As Zoro was having an inner conflict of whether to pet or not to pet, Sanji realised the rather…compromising position they were in. Sanji was straddling Zoro when they fell down on the floor (courtesy of Sanji) and when the swordsman had sat up and gave the awkward hug he slid down to sitting in the green-haired man's lap. Said man was still hugging him. Sanji found himself actually not minding the poorly executed hug but he still felt awkward that it was Zoro hugging him. Not to mention he felt funny with the swordsman this close.

"…how much longer are you going to hug me?" Sanji asked, startling the swordsman out of his thoughts and immediately flung apart from the cook. Sanji found himself feeling disappointed but quickly shook it off. The comfortable silence changed to awkward one as the cook and swordsman faced opposite directions of the room, each man confused by their own thoughts and feelings (unknown to the other).

Zoro finally turned around to face the cook and immediately focused on the fox cook's tails. Left. Right. Left. Right. Before he knew it his hand reached out and touched one of the tails and began petting it. For only 2 seconds before Sanji snapped his tail away.

"What was that for shitty swordsman?!" Sanji exclaimed startled by the petting. Sanji turned around and was met with the swordsman with a guilty look and an embarrassed flush across his cheeks. It was… _cute. Wait, what_ Sanji thought shocked at his own description of the marimo. _No! Stop that thought process right there! Sure the swordsman is handsome, but he's definitely not cute! Wait, now his handsome? What's wrong with me?!_

Zoro sweat dropped at the faces the cook was making. For a simple description on what Zoro was seeing, just imagine the cook is constipated, had swallowed something sour and looked like he was trying hard not to scream out in frustration. _Has the cook finally gone mad?_

"Can I pet your tail? Or your ears?" Zoro finally asked before instantly regretting it when Sanji gave him a strange look. "Actually you know what? Pretend I said nothing, nope, nothing happened, it was all a figment of your imagination, I did not just ask to pet your fluffy looking tail or your silky ears, no-

"Sure."

"Huh?" Zoro blinked stupidly, broken out of his rambles.

"I said sure, you brain dead marimo." Sanji repeated. "You can pet my tail or my ears… but this is only between us, got it? And since I'm such a generous soul, I'll forget about you making a fool of youself, ok?"

Zoro just nodded before shuffling closer to Sanji and just stared at his tails. Zoro reached out a hand and began petting the tail again, feeling the soft fur again. _It feels as soft as it looks… actually it's even softer… and it's really silky too…huh?_ Zoro suddenly stopped his thoughts when he heard a strange sound. It took him a moment to realise it resembled a purring noise and another moment to realise that it came from the cook. Zoro compensated a bit before reaching out his other hand and began stroking the cook's ears as well. The purring got louder.

Said cook had his eyes closed and a look of utter bliss on his face. Zoro continued petting the tails and ears before the cook was literally in his lap (again) and was nearly asleep. Zoro stopped and waited to see if the cook was going to really fall asleep or he was going snap awake and try to kill the swordsman for getting him into that state. The cook did neither.

"You know what marimo? I think we should have some more petting sessions…" Sanji mumbled sleepily, looking up at the swordsman. Sanji smiled "Night, Marimo."

"…yeah, night… Cook."

* * *

 **...Um I don't really have anything to say...**

 **Please R &R!**

 **-Kagu-chan**


	4. Questions

**Hello, my wonderful readers :3**

 **I'm sorry this is a bit late. please forgive me! . enjoy the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't One Piece, Luffy will. I also don't own any talking skeletons. Just sarcasm.**

* * *

The early sun shined done on the Thousand Sunny, waking up the newest crew member of the Strawhat crew.

Sami stirred and blearily opened her eyes before glaring up at the sun. As she tried to get up, she hissed at the sudden stab of pain in her head. _I hate mornings, I hate the sun, I hate hangovers, screw you world_ Sami began cursing everything that ever existed, in her head. _I'm never drinking again… who am I kidding._ It's a known fact that Sami is not a morning person and one to have terrible hangovers.

Sami groaned before looking at the other passed out crewmates and smiled. The scene she saw was adorable. Sometime in the middle of the chilly night; the Idiot Trio had gathered up and are now curled around each other like little animals with Franky and Brooke as pillows. How they find a cyborg and a skeleton comfortable as pillows will forever remain a mystery to Sami.

"Good morning, Dancer-san."

Sami blinked before looking up and smiling at Robin. "Good morning, Nico-san and please just call me Sami."

"I'd give up on that topic, Sami-chan, that's just Robin's way of giving nicknames. Good morning." Nami walked out her mapping room. "Also, call her Robin, no need to call us by our last names. Most of us don't have one anyway."

"Alright then, I will take that into note. By the way, would any of you like coffee or tea? I was just about to make some."

"I'll have tea."

"Some coffee would be lovely."

Sami nodded and walked across the deck before pausing and turning around again. "Um, do you mind telling me where the kitchen is?" Sami grinned sheepishly. Nami and Robin sweat dropped before smiling and giggling at Sami. Sami just rubbed the back of her neck, looking off to the side to hide her embarrassment. Nami grinned when she saw the action, it was exactly like the action a certain cook she knew would do when he was embarrassed. That thought reminded her.

"Robin, do you think you can go Sanji-kun before the idiots wake up and start demanding for food?" Nami asked the older women, before thinking of an idea and turned towards Sami. "Unless you can cook, Sami-chan?"

Sami shook her head and smiled. "No I can't, little San-chan once told me I'm a walking disaster in the kitchen."

"San-chan? Walking disaster?" Nami asked, curiously. "I never thought that Sanji-kun was capable of insulting a woman. And is that what you usually call Sanji-kun?"

"He is capable of insulting women, what do you expect with a tongue like his, he just never means it and is more of a joke and exaggeration than seriously insulting. In my case, what he said about me is 100% true." Sami replied. "The nickname is something only I and our other sisters can get away with, anyone else he'll beat the living shit out of them."

"Wait, you have more siblings?" Nami asked surprised. "How many?"

"Two older sisters and an older brother. They're not blood related but they might as well be with how long we've lived together and how we act." Sami replied before giggling. "Sanji gets really annoyed with us whenever we call him the baby of the family. Out of all of us Sanji is the youngest, so we always tease him about it."

The revealed information about the cook amused the other two female members immensely. As Nami took Sami to the kitchen, chatting the whole way, Robin made her way to the crow's nest. Robin knew that the navigator didn't trust the newest crewmember completely, she didn't either, however the navigator is perfectly capable of gaining information and interrogation herself so Robin was not worried. As Robin began to ascend the crow's nest she began to think about what was the cook's past life was like. What was the history? What were the people like? Did they have pirates? These thoughts whirled in her head before mentally noting to ask the cook later. As she opened the hatch and climbed in she was met with a very amused sight. Robin stared for a bit before closing her eyes and crossing her arms.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, as Sami was making coffee, Nami was asking her questions. So far, as the navigator has seen and heard, the dancer was being honest but she still needed to prove herself to the crew.

"Navigator-san, Dancer-san, I believe if you come up to the crow's nest you will find something very interesting." Robin's voice came out of nowhere, startling Sami when she saw a mouth and ear appear on the counter.

"Hi Robin." Nami said to the mouth.

"…Robin-san?" Sami asked hesitantly. "Do you have Devil Fruit powers?"

"Yes, I do." The mouth replied. "I have eaten the Flower-Flower fruit, it allows me to bloom my body parts anywhere that is within my sight."

"That sounds like a very handy power (pun intended)." Sami stared at the mouth. "What is it that you want us to see?"

"Come up to the crow's nest and you'll see. And Navigator-san, it's up to you if you want to bring a camera den-den mushi if you want."

Nami and Sami just looked at each other before getting up and walking towards the crow's nest, with Nami quickly grabbing a camera den-den mushi from the girls' dorm. As they climbed into the crow's nest they saw Robin smiling and pointing towards what was amusing her, soon they were also smiling and trying to stifle giggles and aws.

The two known 'rivals' of the Strawhat ship were fast asleep on the couch. Sanji, with his ears and tails out, was hugging Zoro in his sleep and was purring while Zoro squeezing him back like an over-sized teddy bear. It looked like over-sized children sleeping together; anyone that didn't know them would never think that they were pirate serial killers that kill only using swords and feet.

Nami quickly took some pictures for blackmailing later, making sure to take shots from all angles. When Nami was satisfied with all the pictures she took, she gave the 'ok' to Sami. Sami then walked up to the two sleeping men and smiled down at the sight before suddenly flipping both men onto the floor.

"What the hell?!" Zoro groaned from suddenly face planting into the hard wooden floor, before getting up and glared accusingly at the three grinning women. What gave them all the same shit-eating grin later was by the cook who also was given the rude awakening.

"Holy shitake mushrooms!" Sanji sat up with a start, with his hair flying everywhere and failing his arms sleepily before finally glaring at nothing in particular and mumbled "Who dares to disturb my slumber?"

"I dare." Sami smiled down at her brother. "So you still wake up that way, how cute."

"I'm not cute." Sanji mumbled, his words contrasting deeply with the action of rubbing the sleep from his eyes before glaring half-heartedly up at his sister… and realising she wasn't alone. He was met with three other shit-eating grins that came from the swordsman, the navigator and the archaeologist (through hers wasn't as shit-eating as the others). Sanji felt his ears heat up, like the other times whenever he was embarrassed and began speaking Sanji language. Well, that's what they referred it to whenever the cook was so flustered, he couldn't speak properly and no one understood him. Not even Luffy or Brook did and they were masters in the gibberish language, so that's saying something.

"Trying to speak three languages at once hasn't changed either too." Sami grinned at Sanji, as she reached out a hand to him, which he reluctantly accepted and was pulled up to his feet.

"Wait, so the nonsense that he was speaking was just a mix of three different languages?" Zoro asked, still doing nothing to hide his amusement of the cook's actions.

Before Sanji could answer, Sami already spoke. "Yes, Sanji can speak three different languages, so whenever he's upset or flustered he can't decide which language he should curse out in so he gets mixed up and begins muttering gibberish."

"What about the 'holy shitake mushrooms'? And 'who dares to disturb my slumber'?" Nami asked, mirth in her eyes. Again Sami answered before Sanji.

"It's what he does every single time he's startled awake." Sami replied, much to a disgruntled cook's annoyance. "Sometimes it changes to 'what the fudge cakes?!' too, depending the mood he's in."

"Seriously? That's priceless." Zoro laughed, ignoring the death stare being drilled into his head, as he continued to chuckle.

"I'm right here, you know." Sanji grumbled, trying to control his bed hair before looking over at Sami with a betrayed look on his face. "Why would you tell them that, Sami?"

"I think those traits of yours are cute." Sami shrugged and grinned again. "And I'm pretty sure Zoro agrees as well."

Sanji choked and blushed furiously, much to the amusement of the other three present in the room.

"Yes, those traits of yours are very cute, Cook." Zoro snickered before noticing something else that made him grin even more. "Like a cute baby animal, even your tails are puffing out. Your ears are flat too."

Sanji made an embarrassed, totally-not-a-squeak-like noise, before patting down his tails and willed his ears to stand upright again. As he finally got his furry body parts under control, he glared at Zoro and flipped him off, with Zoro returning the gesture.

"Ok, break it up." Sami came in between the glaring competition. "You kitties haven't had your saucer of milk yet, so don't start fighting so early in the morning."

"Sanji-kun? Can you go make breakfast before our idiot of a captain starts whining?" Nami asked nicely, trying to stop grinning and failing miserably. "And I am also curious about your past life, would you mind if you were asked a few questions?"

"I'm would like to ask some questions too, if that's alright." Robin inquired, having more success than Nami in suppressing her grin.

"Hai, it's perfectly fine for my beautiful angels to ask if they're curious." Sanji smiled goofily at them both before giving the swordsman one last glare and began descending towards the kitchen.

When the usual aroma of Sanji's cooking woke the other crew members they immediately rushed in and marvelled at Sanji's tails and ears before they began shovelling as much food as they can before their black hole of a captain eats it all. As the last of the food was finished, Sanji began cleaning up with the help of Sami. It seemed pretty much like any other day except his sister was there and the whole had decided to stay and ask questions to know more about their cook and newest crewmate.

"Where did you live before? What was it like?"

"Do you look any different from then and now?"

"Did you have any other siblings? What were their names?"

"How was your past life? Were you happy?"

"Can you show us some more of you powers?"

"Can you tell us stories from your past life?"

"Are you any different from your past self?"

"Sami! Show us some more of those cool dance moves!"

"Woah there, slow down. First, let me change into something more comfortable." Sami laughed as Sanji grinned and the crew gave confused glances at each other. Suddenly Sami was covered in a wall of blue flames, much like how Sanji was the night before and when the wall cleared Sami also had tails and ears that were identical to Sanji's, only hers seemed a bit more silver than gold.

"Much better." Sami sighed, while she patted imaginary dust off herself and checked her tails and ears.

"SO COOL!" Luffy shouted with stars in his eyes.

"You feel more comfortable in your fox hybrid form?" Nami asked, ignoring Luffy.

"Yes, it heightens our senses and our awareness, so we feel better this way." Sanji replied this time. "After comparing our human senses with our fox ones, we realised being in our fox form doesn't feel as 'dull' or 'slow'."

Nami nodded, satisfied with the answer before Brook decided to ask next. "What was the world that you lived in, like?"

"Well, it was very different from this world that's for sure." Sami began. "For one, when Sanji and I were born, pirates were long gone and the technology was more advanced. The also wasn't such thing as devil fruits and instead of five seas there were seven. There weren't as many islands but more like continents made up of a group of different countries."

"Oh?" Robin raised her eyebrow, the mention of technology catching the attention of Usopp and Franky as well.

"Also there wasn't only one government but several different and small ones in different countries, each one following their own set of rules and laws." Sanji continued. "Most laws were written down by the higher ups and they would let the people vote for which one they think is best. All the leaders were voted by the people in most countries, anyone could do it if they want to and if they received the right education for it. That's a way of explaining how it works. There's actually a lot more to it but that's a basic outline."

"That's seems like a very interesting system to follow." Robin mentioned filing away the information in her head. "But it seems like it works."

"It does, though there are still countries that are at war, the world is mostly peaceful." Sanji replied. "The technology is incredible too, and it's in a complete different way of this's world's current way of technology. Without Devil Fruit powers, the humans in that world came up with different theories to explain how certain things work and created inventions that would make absolutely no sense here. Some inventions were phones, T.V.s, computers, planes, cars and more that were everyday occurrences. Some more advanced were rockets, satellites and more."

"What do these inventions do?" Franky asked.

As the crew continued asking questions Sanji went back to washing the dishes while his sister continued explaining. He smiled as he saw the passion that fired up in Nami's eyes when she heard that someone had already accomplished making a map of the world, as Robin asked about the history and learning about some very interesting things about medieval torture methods (much to the other crew members' horror), as Franky and Usopp questioned as much as they could about the inventions (no doubt to try and recreate them later), as Brook asked about the music culture, as Luffy asked about irrelevant things that annoyed everyone but Sami, as Chopper asked wide-eyed about the advancement in medical achievements and finally with the swordsman having a spark of interest in his eye when Sami mentioned different fighting methods and making her promise to show him them later.

"Sanji, can tell us what you were like in you past life?" Chopper asked, when he was finally satisfied with the information he gained from Sami.

"He's not that different to how his is now, as in, he's still a little shit." Sami teased, poking Sanji in the side.

"Hey, that's harsh, Sis. You hear that? That was the sound of my heart shattering at how cruel you can be." Sanji gave an over exaggeration of placing his hand over his heart and giving a pained and hurt expression.

"WAH! SANJI, IS YOUR CHEST IN PAIN?! DOCTOR! Oh wait that's me." Chopper panicked, taking a few minutes of calming down from both twins, telling him it was just a joke.

"Its fine Chopper, Sanji was just being sarcastic." Sami glared lightly over at her brother. "And they say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

"Then they've obviously never met me." Sanji replied.

"…did you just…?"

"Made a Skulduggery Pleasant reference?" Sanji asked a rhetorical question. "Yes, yes I did. And you were the one who subconsciously allowed me to do it."

"…Its times like these that make me wonder what I did to deserve such a brother."

"Aw, that's so sweet of you."

"Sarcasm takes up like 80% of your personality."

"Who, me?" Sanji pointed to himself, with a surprised look. "Me? Sarcastic? Never."

"…I really hate you sometimes."

"Love you too."

Luffy suddenly burst out laughing at the strange verbal argument that the twins were having. He's never seen Sanji argue with any female in any way, so it was amusing to the captain to see the silly sibling play fight between his cook and dancer, reminding him of the times of when Ace and he argued too. His laughing was an invitation for the rest of the crew's amused smiles to grow wider, some even beginning to chuckle and laugh as well. They've never seen this side of the cook before, while it seemed strange at first, it gradually became funnier and it seemed like verbal arguments were a normal occurrence between the two blondes. Brook was the first to break out of the laughing session before looking over at Sami.

"Sami-san? Do you mind telling us what 'Skulduggery Pleasant' is?"

"Skulduggery Pleasant is a fiction book series by the fantastic, one and only Derek Landy. Both of us enjoyed reading it our past life." Sami replied. "Come to think of it, one of the main characters was a talking skeleton… wonder what it would be like if you two ever met."

"Oh, good god no." Sanji groaned, putting his head in his hands. "I do not want to be there if those two ever have a conversation. I can imagine those two just having a conversation on terrorizing people over a cup of tea."

"Well, I for one, cannot decide if it would absolutely amazing to have those two in a conversation or if would spell certain doom on humanity with the sarcastic humor and stupid puns that would sure to commence. Not to mention both a capable of being a mass murderer." Sami concluded, putting her hand on her chin as if in thought. Brook didn't know whether to be amused or slightly insulted. Instead he decided to ask his daily question to every young women he met.

"Sami-san? May I see your panties?"

"Huh?" Sami blinked. "Where did that come from? And to answer your question; I'm sorry but I must decline. But thank you for asking politely."

"No, thank you for being polite with me."

"EH?! HOW ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT THIS?!" the crew shouted at Sami. Sami blinked again.

"…Well he was being polite about it, which counts a lot in my book." Sami replied. "Besides I'm not that bothered about underwear, it's not that different from bikinis. The only difference between the two, to me, is that with bikinis; girls have given their consent for everyone to see, while with underwear they did not."

"…" The crew just stared. _You have a very amazing sister, Sanji._

Suddenly Nami began to assess what Sami was wearing, and she noticed with slight horrification at the state of Sami's clothing. Sami herself was clean and seemed fit but her clothing was a different matter. She was covered with a cloak, so Nami didn't notice at first, but Sami's clothes were old and worn, with holes here and there with stains that looked like they were never going to come out.

"Sami! How could you wear clothing like that?!" Nami cried out in despair, mentally going over her wardrobe, seeing if anything would fit the dancer. None, Nami deflated, Sami was too tall to fit in her clothing and too short for Robin's, not to mention Sami was on the flat-chested side and the clothes would not fit her frame properly.

"We're going shopping!" Nami declared, dragging a very confused Sami behind her to go and get her wallet. Robin followed after them, laughing softly to herself and prepared for a shopping trip.

"Wait, if I'm going out I refuse to wear anything like this. Why do you think I wear the damn cloak all the time?" Sami skidded to a stop, before turning over to Sanji. "San-chan, sweetie, do you mind if I borrow one of your old shirts, some pants and a belt?"

"I told you not to call me that." Sanji grumbled, ticked off when he heard the snickers the other male crew members made. As he brushed himself off after giving each man a good kick for laughing at him, Sanji waved at Sami. "Sure, go ahead, just make sure you return them and take one of the cotton shirts or a low-quality one. I don't want any wrinkles in my good shirts."

"I was the one who gave you sense of style. Don't worry I won't bring harm to your clothing, I know what I'm doing." Sami smirked back, before waving back to Sanji and walked down to the men's' dorm. Soon after a few minutes Sami came out, and what she wore surprised the crew. She had completely changed clothing that should have been a bit big for her, into a long sleeved button up, with high rise pants and a black belt that fit her perfectly.

"It's useful to have a brother whose body type is the same as yours." Sam winked. "Sanji and I are identical in every way except for gender and mind."

"You need to teach me a few pointers." Nami smiled, admiring at the handiwork of Sami. "But you still need clothing of your own, can't be borrowing Sanji-kun's old shirts all the time. Come one let's go."

The three girls left the ship chatting away and laughing. Soon the other male crew members left to explore the rest of the island, searching out their own interests or finish buying the last of the supplies. The only ones that were left were Sanji, who was finishing of cleaning the kitchen and Zoro, who decided to train. As Sanji finished the last of the dishes he stretched and walked out onto deck to have a smoke, relaxing instantly at watching the waves and the nicotine in his lungs. But because the world hates him he only got a few minutes of peace before something, or someone rudely interrupted his 'me time'.

"So, your sister calls you San-chan." Sanji could literally hear the grin in the bastard's voice. Sanji bit his now burnt out cigarette in half before throwing the remains into the ocean out of annoyance. He turned his head slightly and glared at Zoro.

"Yes, she calls me San-chan and if I hear you or any other male member on this ship call me that I will personally fillet you and serve you on tomorrow's menu." Sanji growled out in warning. Zoro's grin just turned wider before he's gaze turned curious.

"So, do you remember the song?" Sanji paused, staring at Zoro or a bit. He was surprised he remembered, Sanji felt a weird tug at his heart but he ignored it.

"Yes, I do." Sanji replied, turning back to face the sea. "The song I played on the piano was 'River Flows in You' by Yiruma, now that I have my memories back I remember even more."

"Not that one, the one that was sung by the girl, Dartboard." Zoro stared at the cook like he was an idiot. "The one that was sung by your sister."

"The song that Sami would always tried to sing to me every time in my sleep was 'Lavender's Blue'. It was a nursery rhyme but to Sami and I it was comfort song and a lullaby. It was the only thing left of our biological parents. It's funny how I don't even remember them one little bit but I still have a yearning for them and hearing the nursery rhyme they sing to me would instantly calm me down."

"Well it can't be helped. Even if your mind's forgotten, your heart hasn't." Zoro replied joining Sanji at the railing.

"That just sounded really cheesy, kelp head." Sanji teased, smirking over at the swordsman. "Don't go spouting poetry and positive shit on me."

"Don't make me regret being nice to you." Zoro muttered and instantly regretted the words the moment they came out. Sanji looked over with an amused look on his face.

"Oh? Were you trying to be nice to me?" Sanji purred out, bringing up one of his tails and stroking Zoro's jawline and closing the distance that was between him and the swordsman. To Sanji's great satisfaction he began to see the slight flush that was starting to rise from Zoro's neck. "Careful there marimo, giving out statements like that would make me think you might have a crush on me."

"In your dreams, Cook." Zoro scoffed, mentally patting himself on the back when his voice came out smoothly. Zoro honestly did not know about his feelings for the cook. On one hand, the cook was easily one of the most annoying and infuriating people he's ever met. He constantly calls Zoro names and insults him, always with that damn smirk. He's an idiot around women and is like a slave to them and treats them in a way that would definitely earn a punch to the face by Kuina.

But then Zoro also had his fair share of annoying the cook as well, calling him names and starting half of the fights they have. The way he treats women was only the cook following his own code of honour. The cook himself had told him that he didn't care if looked like an idiot to women if it made them happy, a view that he followed wholeheartedly and never discouraged from it impressed the swordsman. Sanji was also one of the most good looking men he's ever met, even with the weird eyebrow and slightly feminine 'pretty boy' look, Sanji gives off an aura that is completely masculine and confident, also something not many are capable of, Sanji looks completely comfortable in his own skin. While with others they would find every flaw and find them ugly, Sanji seems to carry all his flaws and everything about him with his head held high and his back straight. His smirk isn't that annoying either… Wait.

Zoro froze in mid-thought, his body going slightly rigid when he realised what he was thinking.

"Zoro?" Sanji looked over at the tense swordsman.

Zoro didn't answer. All he was registering was how the sun reflected off Sanji's hair, how his blue-grey eye resembled a storm at sea, showing all emotions that Zoro had trained himself not to show. He remembered all the times Sanji smiled genuinely, the times he saved the crew, his cooking, the fights and finally the annoying smirk. All he was registering was the cook.

He was on the verge of falling for the cook.

 _Well, shit._

* * *

 **All I have to say is**

 **YOU NEED TO READ SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT! ...sorry, but really to those who have read it, you're fabulous and to those who haven't. I have just introduced you to something amazing, whether you want to read it or not is up to you but if you don't read it *shakes head* you're missing out on a lot.**

 **Please R &R!**

 **-Kagu-chan**


	5. Piano

**Hello! I'm sorry this is late!**

 **I would like to tell you all that I might not be updating as much because real life sucks so I can't write fanfiction all the time. I'm really sorry! *bows***

 **Endamame* the green beans that Japanese people eat. It's green and kinda fuzzy like Zoro's hair I guess?**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did my life won't be shitty.**

* * *

Sami looked up from a rack of clothing she was looking at, she had felt her 'protect little brother' sensor go off.

"Sami? Is something wrong?" Nami noticed her friend suddenly get distracted and stare at nothing in particular.

"No, it's not me, it's my brother." Sami replied, before smiling slightly.

"Sanji-kun? Why? Do you sense danger?" Nami was immediately alert, unconsciously reaching for her Clima-Tact.

"No it's not that either, it's just I believe my little San-chan would have some rather confusing problems in the future." Sami smirked over at Nami and Robin. "Some _romantic_ ones, I believe."

This caught the attention of the other two companions and they smirked as well.

"Is one of problems a certain green-haired idiot?" Nami inquired, when she gained a nod from Sami she huffed. "About damn time, I'm sick of seeing those idiots pulling at each other's pig tails like little boys trying to figure out why they like girls."

"It was interesting to find out that Cook-san was bisexual." Robin added thoughtfully. "I believe they would be perfect for each other."

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who ships those two." Sami smiled before frowning slightly. "But I feel a little sorry for Edamame*. San-chan is not an easy person to win over; lost child's going to need to do a lot of work with that one if he wants him."

"Edamame?" Robin looked over at Sami before smiling. "It suits him."

"I know right?"

"How is Sanji-kun not easy to win over?" Nami asked, frowning slightly. "I always thought he was a romantic person at heart and would fall in love very easily. He seems to have fallen in love with me and Robin before."

"While yes, San-chan is romantic, his love to most people is mainly platonic." Sami replied. "I've said before, him now is not that different from his past self. His past self was just a bit more subdued with his feelings and not as flamboyant as he is now. With his old memories back, he probably gained some qualities of his old self as well."

"That is true." Robin remembered the simple, but still happy, morning greeting he had given to her this morning. "He's seems to have changed his attitude towards Navigator-san and I into something more like a love for a sister."

"He still loves us but it's just not romantically." Nami concluded. "He's never actually done anything to us that made us truly uncomfortable either. He's always the first one to see if we're unhappy and would try to cheer us up."

"That's just his view on helping women in his own way shining through." Sami smiled. "However with actual gaining of a partner is where it's a completely different case. Foxes have a tendency to have only one mate in their whole life. If their mate ever dies before them, it is most likely that they will die along with them out of heartbreak."

"That's so sad." Nami said, before suddenly looking a Sami with questioning eyes. "Wait, since you two are both fox demons does that mean…?"

"Yes, if we ever gain a lover, it would be our lover for life." Sami smiled sadly. "That's why Sanji would be hard to win over, not only is he dense as hell when it comes to his own love life, he is also afraid. He's not afraid of committing himself but more so about whether if the other would leave him. I'm paranoid too when it comes to finding a special someone. Once we love a person, we can no longer love another."

"But Swordsman-san is an extremely loyal person." Robin pointed out. "Once he dedicates himself to something he will stick with it for life. If Sanji is also one that is also committed, wouldn't those two suit each other perfectly?"

"The rest is up to them. Both are more stubborn than a mule when they want to be, but both seem accepting of the fact of liking the same gender so we're already halfway there." Sami replied, doing a small fist pump in the air. "But from what I've seen of the swordsman, it appears that he's as dense as my baby brother when it comes to their own love-life."

"Looks like we're going to have to change that." Nami smiled, earning identical ones from Sami and Robin in return. Looks like operation 'Get Fox and Marimo together' is now in action.

* * *

Sanji sneezed. _Is someone talking about me behind my back?_ He thought as he rubbed his nose. _I'll think about it later, I have a different problem right now._

"Hello? Earth to marimo brains?" Sanji waved his hand in front of Zoro's face. He huffed, the stupid muscle head been staring at nothing for the last 5 minutes. Sanji had no idea what the swordsman was thinking but it did not seem very healthy considering that the swordsman was going red in the face. Finally the last of Sanji's patience snapped, he moved his mouth near the swordsman's ear, took a deep breath and…

"SOMEONE TOOK YOUR SWORDS!" Sanji shouted in Zoro's ear. Zoro immediately snapped out of it and jumped away, holding his ear and glared at Sanji. _Well, it worked_ Sanji thought.

"Don't do that." Zoro growled. "And never ever touch my swords."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "I know, I would never touch your swords, it was just the only way I could get your attention. Also do you need to see Chopper? Your face is red."

At this Zoro immediately faced the opposite direction and began walking towards the bathroom to wash his face and calm to himself. "How can you get lost on your own ship? The bathroom's the other way." Zoro stopped again before grudgingly walking in the right direction. After a little bit, Sanji decided to follow him to the bathroom.

When Zoro noticed Sanji in the same room as him, he grumbled and looked off to the side and folded his arms. "Oh my god, you're actually sulking. The great Roronoa Zoro is sulking." Sanji laughed disbelievingly.

"Shut up."

"And now you're pouting, well that's just peachy." Sanji sighed in annoyance at the childish swordsman who blatantly ignoring the cook. Sanji sighed again. _I apologize to all the cooks that were on The Orbit if this is how I acted like back then. Well, if he's acting like a child let's see if we can control him as a child._

Sanji began to walk towards the door and called over his shoulder. "Well, if you want to sulk, that's fine. I was going to show some more songs that I remember now on the piano and I also know how to play the saxophone as well, if my memory serves me right and most definitely will."

As Sanji began walking towards the music room he heard the tell-tale sound of heavy boots walking across the deck. The owner of the boots seems to be trying to be as quiet as possible but with Sanji's heightened hearing the swordsman could be as quiet as an assassin but Sanji can still hear him. _The marimo really is a child._ Sanji smiled, pretending he didn't hear the swordsman. _To think that the 'Demon' who usually makes marines piss their pants out of fear can be swayed like a child._

As Sanji walked into the music room again he looked around to see if there's a saxophone. Sure enough near the piano the saxophone was leaning against the wall, Sanji thought for a bit before going towards the piano and sitting down. As Sanji was thinking about what song he wanted to play, Zoro had quietly entered the room and lent against the wall to listen. _Why did I come? Sure there's the possibility that I might actually like the cook but that doesn't mean I should follow around like a duckling._ Zoro thought, disappointed in himself. _I can't do this; it's a sign of weakness… I think? I mean all I feel is warm and fuzzy when I'm around the idiot-brow, it doesn't feel bad, it actually feels… nice… ok, yeah no use lying to myself, I have a crush on the idiot._ At this realisation Zoro groaned loudly and banged his head against the wall, gaining a strange look from Sanji.

"…Are you ok there?" Sanji asked. "Actually, do I even want to know?"

"Why you?! You of all people!" Zoro cried pointing accusingly at Sanji as if blaming him for everything (in away the cook is to blame).

"What about me?!" Sanji shouted back, slightly insulted at the accusing tone of the swordsman. The only reply he got was a furious blush on the swordsman's face. Seeing this ceased all insults Sanji had created in his head instead made curious about what the swordsman was possibly thinking.

"Do you have any requests?" Sanji asked the swordsman. "Just say what type of music you want and I'll chose one to play."

"Play something like what you played before." Zoro replied immediately. Sanji felt a sweat drop and shook his head but all the while trying to hide a smile at the typical answer form the simpleton of a swordsman.

"Fine then. I'll play 'Kiss the Rain' don't even try to make fun of the name."

Soon the sound of Yiruma on the piano rang across the ship catching the attention of the returning crewmates. The girls had come back from their shopping trip a little while ago meeting up with Chopper and Usopp who also went shopping. The rest of the crewmembers had come back at around the same time when they heard the piano playing.

"Oh, what a lovely tune."

"Did Brooke write another song?"

"I've never heard of it before."

"It's not me playing! Yohohohoho!"

"What?!" the crew looked for the talking skeleton and sure enough the skeleton was on the deck with them.

"Then who's playing?" Usopp asked the million dollar question.

"That would be Sanji, the song he's playing is 'Kiss the Rain' by Yiruma." Sami answered, gaining everyone's attention.

"Sanji can play piano?" Chopper asked with wonder in his eyes. "Since when?"

"Since he was 10, in our past life." Sami replied with a smile to the reindeer. "Do you want to go listen?"

"Won't Sanji be mad?" Chopper frowned, looking nervously in the direction of the music room.

"It'll be fine, when he plays he doesn't even realise if anyone else comes in to listen. Come on." Sami said, offering her hand to Chopper which he accepted.

The rest of the crew followed along, as they went in they were surprised to see Zoro also listening, already leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. Zoro opened one of his eyes and nodded to the crew before closing his eye again and continued listening. The rest of the crew decided to sit down and make themselves comfortable along with the swordsman and watched Sanji play the piano.

Luffy smiled at the calm expression on his cook's face. The captain had seen some changes in the cook and most were for the better, in Luffy's opinion. Sanji's more open now and seems a lot happier ever since Sami had come along, there also seems to be a slight change in the swordsman as well. Luffy grinned inwardly, most would see him as an idiot but he can be very insightful… and also be a bit of a matchmaker. He had noticed long before Sami had come along that there had been a tension in his first mate and cook and agrees with the girls; they should be together.

When Sanji had first joined he had told Luffy that he was bisexual straight up and asked if he had a problem with it, which Luffy obviously didn't. When Sanji had first seen their crew Luffy noticed that, before approaching the table that they were sitting at, Sanji was eyeing the swordsman with interest before shaking his head and instead flirted with Nami. All giddiness aside of having a possible couple, Luffy honestly thought the two were a good match. Both were the same age, had similar views yet so completely different at the same time and both were incredibly strong which meant they rely on each other during battles.

Luffy gave his D grin, if Zoro and Sanji ever get together and they will (once the captain had decided it will happen!) Luffy will make sure he would be the first one to approve of the relationship. Luffy finally ceased all thoughts and continued to listen to Sanji's playing. The song was very peaceful and calming; soon the whole crew was either in dreamland or in a trance like state, completely relaxed.

Sanji sighed contently as the song came to an end, no matter how upset he may be, working with his hands always made him feel better whether it's cooking or playing an instrument. Sanji suddenly froze when he heard a round of an applause that was definitely more than one pair of hands and since when did the shitty swordsman applaud anyway? As Sanji slowly turned around he gave a sheepish smile to the crew who was staring back at him in awe.

"Can you teach me some songs, Sanji-san?" Brook asked, impressed and happy of gaining a fellow musician. "I would like to learn the songs, I've never heard of the song before and it was one of the nicest pieces I've heard."

"Sure." Sanji smiled, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "I can also play a little of the saxophone and Sami, over there, can play the violin quite well too."

Brook couldn't be happier of finding more fellow musicians to play and compose songs with, but he was curious with how the twins had so many different skills.

"How come you two know how to do so many things? I mean, you can cook, dance, fight, play several instruments and from what I heard from the others that you can speak several languages." Brook inquired, stroking his non-existent beard.

"Well, in a way we had too much free time on our hands, to entertain ourselves we learnt all kinds of different skills to keep us busy." Sami replied, sweat dropping slightly for her reason, walking over to her brother's side. "It's not fun to always be peaceful, it can be boring too. The previous world we lived in had polices that everyone followed, which led to having a very peaceful and docile life that neither Sanji nor I really enjoyed."

"Sami said this morning, that the gibberish that you were saying was really three languages mixed together. What were the three languages?" Nami asked Sanji who was still sitting by the piano.

"Well one of the languages is the main language." Sanji smiled, trying to crack a joke, which earned him an exasperated smile from the navigator. "But the other two languages I speak fluently in are French and Swedish, two languages that come from different European countries. My mother was from France and my father was from Sweden. Sami and I gained our blond hair from our father while both of our eyes are mixture of our father's and mother's. The main language of this world to us is also known as Japanese."

"Japanese?" Robin asked. "What country is that language from?"

"A small country named Japan, Sami and I lived there for most of our lives." Sanji replied this time. "Another language that we can both speak is English, which is the main language of that world."

"Are your other siblings from the same place too?" Robin faced both siblings.

"Wait, there's more?" Usopp asked surprised before yelping when Nami gave him a 'light tap' to the head. "What?!"

"Don't say it like Sanji-kun's and Sami's siblings are objects!" Nami hissed. "Have some more tact!"

Sanji laughed at Usopp, while Sami giggled, when the sniper bowed and apologised profusely, begging them not to be offended and not to kill him with their scary demon powers. "Haha, no, our other siblings came from different places; Greece, America and China." Sanji said, quelling the last of his laughter. "Li An come from China, she was the oldest out of all of us, her name 'Li' meant strength and 'An' meant calm. It was a name that suited her; she was always extremely level-headed and could beat the shit out of grown-ass men at the age of 12."

"Then there's our other sister, Miki. She was the second oldest and came from America. She was very hot-headed and sassy; she was the type that took nonsense from no one. She also takes giving favours and debts to people very seriously." Sami said next, smiling at the memories going through her head at the mention of her siblings. "Oh she can also get a bit bossy too."

"Hey, don't those two sound like…?" Franky scratched his head, as the whole crew suddenly stared at Nami and Robin.

"What?" Nami asked, slightly miffed at the stares she as getting. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Fufufu" Robin only chuckled. "I believe that the others think that we resemble Cook-san's and Dancer-san's sisters, Navigator-san."

"But I'm not bossy." Nami stated, crossing her arms before grinning and looked down at the crew from her nose in a haughty manner. "I'm not bossy, I'm the Queen."

At this mention Sanji and Sami burst out laughing, both at Nami's comeback and that that particular saying was very familiar to them.

"Hahaha, I'm sorry Nami-chan, but just then you resembled out sister Miki very much." Sami breathed, trying to catch her breath after she finally calmed down. "She always gets defensive whenever someone tells her she's bossy."

"Adonis was always the one to argue with her, constantly complaining about her attitude, when he himself also has a shitty attitude most of the time." Sanji suddenly began making gagging noises and looked like he was choking on poison before grimancing and began speaking again. "Adonis was the third oldest and like his name suggests he was, I can't believe I'm admitting this, extremely handsome."

"We can both agree that even though we love him, he can be a total prat." Sami nodded, agreeing with her brother.

"Hell to the no, I will never love that asshole." Sanji growled. "He's constantly made fun of me and thought he was more superior then everyone else and just is a total fucker in general."

"But he has his moments."

"Very rarely."

"…yeah… very, very rarely."

"…"

"What did he make fun of you for?" Usopp asked, breaking the silence after a few moments. At this question Sanji froze while Sami gained a huge ass grin.

"Well, to answer that question-"

"Gah! NO!" Sanji, out of desperation quickly covered his sister's mouth. "You will not mention any of the thin- Gah!" Sanji quickly removed his hand and wiped it on his shirt, giving his sister an accusing look.

"Why the hell did you lick me?!"

"That's what you get for doing what you did!"

As the twins continued arguing the rest of the crew just stared and sweat dropped. They still weren't use to Sanji arguing with the opposite gender.

"So what was the Curlybrow made fun for?" Zoro grinned deviously, looking over at Sanji. What Zoro was thinking was how someone, if they were annoying as the cook mentioned, could have anything that could embarrass the cook so much that he even covered his sister's mouth.

"Well one thing was that Sanji was dared to dress up in the most frilliest and girlish Lolita costume while doing the Kiyomi Dance." Sami quickly said and while Sanji was still in horror state, Sami quickly added. "Complete with makeup, having it video tapped and posting it on YouTube."

"What's Kiyomi? What is YouTube? And most importantly, do tell us the details." Zoro continued grinning at the now acquired information (blackmail) he gained about the cook. Zoro evilly rubbed his hands together and chuckled darkly. _Oh it's going to be so much fun._

"Kiyomi is a cutesy little dance that would make anyone feel like barfing rainbows and YouTube is only one of the most visited websites around the world where everyone can see it and can I just say that the supposed dare gained more than 3 thousand views?" Sami replied to all the questions while having Sanji in headlock, preventing him from keeping her embarrassing the shit out of her brother.

"Can you give us a demonstration?" Franky also joined Zoro on the evil side, smiling over at Sami with his eyebrows raised.

"Sure, but there's not really a proper version, mainly improvising but I'll show you." Sami smiled before launching into the dance and singing the music.

Sanji was mortified, to say the least. The whole crew looked like they either wanted to barf because of the cringe-worthy dance moves or laugh because they knew that he's done it too. Not to mention the shitty swordsman seemed like he was having a time of his life, smirking over at Sanji the moment the dance was finished. _Why don't you just kill me now world?_

"I would also like to add on the fact you will never see me do it again." Sanji gritted out, as he got up and walked towards the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make dinner and if I hear another mention of that blasted song, I will kick you in the face so hard you'll be shitting teeth for weeks."

At Sanji's threat, Usopp and Chopper immediately began hugging each other and crying tears of fear. The majority of the crew just laughed, except for Robin, who only smiled and Nami, who just shook her head and looked over at Sami.

"So, if there weren't any pirates or marines, how did you make a living?" Nami asked.

"There were all types of jobs but since the government was literally our home we didn't really worry about money, but we still did some small-time jobs, like Sanji was temporarily a waiter and I was an assistant of a company." Sami suddenly remembered another piece of information. "Sanji was also a temporary model for one of our friends."

"EH?!" Usopp screamed. "SANJI WAS A MODEL?"

"Yes, he was and I must admit that he was an extremely good one too." Sami replied unfazed at the shocked looks she was receiving. "The moment he began modelling, our friend gained popularity quite quickly, not to mention Sanji also gained quite a few admirers."

"Well, that's not something you hear every day." Franky stated, trying to imagine Sanji modelling, the image came up quite easily, but knowing Franky it's probably an image of Sanji doing the SUPER pose and wearing nothing but speedos and a hawaiian shirt.

Soon the crew made Sami go out on deck to make them show her hip hop dance moves and with the younger crewmates trying to dance along and failing horribly but everyone was laughing.

"Yohohoho, young people are so lively" Brook trilled.

After dinner was finished Sanji stretched out all the kinks in his back from cleaning the whole kitchen until it was spotless and sighed contently at the cracks and pops came out of his body.

"Dude, don't do that, it's disturbing." Zoro grimaced at the sounds. Zoro had decided that the make sure that he did like the cook, he would spend more time with him. The actual fact was that Zoro knew that he did in fact like the cook and was just finding excuses to be near the blonde.

"What's disturbing? Oh you mean this?" Sanji grinned evilly and cracked his knuckles, the loud popping noises made Zoro shudder.

"I really hate you." _No I don't_

"Feelings mutual." _Not really_

But because both are idiots they didn't know what the other was thinking and were covering up their feelings with sarcastic insults. Zoro wasn't the only one who was feeling conflicted, Sanji had already kept a bit of an eye on the swordsman ever since he first caught glimpse of the dumb green hair and still hasn't stopped looking just yet. Lately with the swordsman being quiet and even docile with the cook, had made Sanji unable to complain about the usual things about Zoro and it only made him remember the good qualities he had picked out from the swordsman. Sanji then decided to go make things even more weird for himself and the Marimo because he's an idiot when it comes to his love life.

"So… what are your sexual preferences?" Sanji mentally kicked himself. _Why did I ask that? What is wrong with me?_ Sanji began to panic when the swordsman didn't respond at first. But then it's the Strawhat cook and first mate, most feelings would be pushed aside for feeling pissed off sooner or later.

"I don't know."

"…Don't know?" Sanji felt a tick in his eye. "I know you're a person who can keep his qualms in check but YOU'RE NINETEEN, ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU HAVE NO ATTRACTION WHATSOEVER?"

"I do have needs every now and then, just not as much as a perv like you." Zoro leered. "I take care of my needs my own way and I honestly couldn't careless who I do it with as long as I get release."

"…Then you're pansexual then." Sanji concluded.

"I guess."

"…I'm honestly not surprised."

"Why did you even bother asking?"

"Because I've been told I don't have a very good impulse control, so I tend to blurt things out without really thinking."

"…What do you even think about?"

"Brains are weird man."

"…Right."

Sanji hummed and stubbed out the cigarette before walking off to his turn on watch. "Nami-san told me that we're going to be setting sail sometime tomorrow so better tell me if there's anything else you want, because the welcome party for my sister drained some supplies so I'm going shopping again."

"Booze." Was the immediate answer.

"…Why do I even bother?" Sanji grumbled, as he flicked his ears in annoyance. "Fine, go to bed, shitty swordsman."

"Night, Cook." Zoro grinned at Sanji to piss him off. Instead he got a slight flush on the cook's cheeks as he rushed off towards the crow's nest, his tails fluffing up behind him, leaving a slightly stunned swordsman in his wake.

 _Damn, that grin was a lot sexier than it should have been…_ Sanji thought, still aware of the flush on his cheeks. He was confused about the strange fuzzy feeling. Maybe Sami would know.

* * *

 **I'm sorry if Sanji is ooc.**

 **Kiyomi/gwiyomi is a little cute dance that goes along with an equally cute song and is enough to make me want to barf unicorns and sparkles. Here are the two videos of some versions of the dance and it's up to you on which one is the one that Sanji did.**

 **watch?v=VUsIRL-m3qM**

 **watch?v=LnvWHL_9eCQ**

 **Please R &R!**

 **-Kagu-chan**


	6. Talk

**Hello random people!**

 **Just note that Onigiri and Omurice are Japanese dishes.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, and because of that *starts shaking Oda sensei* WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH MY PRECIOUS PRINCE?! TELL ME! (I'm sorry…)**

* * *

"You're and idiot, you know that?

" Sami stated, deadpanned.

"Eh?" Sanji sweat dropped at the answer, it was the next morning and he was preparing breakfast while chatting with his sister. He just asked about the fuzzy feeling he was feeling and wondered if Sami knew what it was and was told that he was an idiot. Not an answer he was looking for.

"I'm guessing you only feel this when Endamame is near you?"

Amused with the nickname that his sister had chosen for the marimo, Sanji nodded in confirmation as he prepared the rice.

"The feeling intensifies when he smiles, looks your way or just in general treats you nicely?"

"Also when we fight and argue." Sanji added.

 _Huh, Baby brother seems to have the love-hate relationship on point._ "Why?"

"It's fun and a way of training and there aren't that many people that can keep up with my sparring. The marimo's the only one I give my full attention to when fighting, otherwise our fights wouldn't end in ties."

At this Sami was surprised but she smiled. _So little San-chan gives the Endamame his full attention ay? That's a good start… even if it's only when they're fighting… actually no that's even better, San-chan never gives attention to people he actually hates, so the fact he's responding is good._

"So how long have you felt this?" Sami continued questioning. At this Sanji paused, how long had he felt this?

"Well… I've only actually acknowledged its existence only recently, but I think I have felt it a while ago, I just never really realised." Sanji concluded, tilting his head to the side deep in thought, tails flicking side to side like a metronome. "If I'm correct, the first time I felt the fuzzy feeling was… seeing the marimo for the first time? Or maybe our first fight or conversation?"

"… you've felt the fuzzy feeling ever since you first met him?" Sami was again deadpanned as she stared at Sanji. _How dense can he be?_ Sami thought ears flicking in annoyance.

"Well I think I remember feeling something similar when I first saw a mention of a 'demon' in the newspaper when I was working at the Baratie. I think I was seventeen? Though I think it was more admiration than anything." Sanji tilted his head on the other side. He blinked when his sister fell out of her chair. "Is something wrong?"

"N-no, nothing's wrong…" Sami laughed, picking herself up and sitting in her chair again. _That's it, these two are definitely getting together if that's the last thing I do._ She looked at her brother and when she was given nothing but a clueless look in response she did a light face palm and sighed heavily.

"… So what are we having for breakfast?"

"We're having onigiri and omurice."

"Oh?" Sami looked up her brother and sure enough he was making onigiri. "Seems different from what you usually make."

"I usually ask the others what they want but no one really knew what they wanted so I just let my mind wander and I found myself making this." Sanji gestured to the rice in his hand. "Did you know that one of the lost swordsman's moves is named Oni Giri?"

"…Why would he name his move after a food? Does he really like onigiri or something?" Sami asked confused.

"No as in 'Oni' and 'Giri' but I thought he named it after the food too." Sanji laughed. "I guess if you take your food seriously you tend to associate it with anything."

"That's true, remember when we found out one of our friends didn't like Nutella?" Sami laughed as well. "All hell had broken loose." _Wait, when Sanji lets his mind wonder he tends to make whatever is related to what he was thinking… onigiri… swordsman's moves… Japanese food… Once again my brother is so dense!_ Sami felt her eye twitch and she stared into Sanji's eye when he turned around and pointed the tip of one of her tails in his direction.

"You are such a dimwit, little duck." Sami told right into Sanji's face. Sanji flicked his ears at the familiar nickname as he wondered what he did this time.

"Whatever you say, Samantha."

"I told you not to call me that! You know I hate being called that!"

"Why do you think I do it?"

"Oh? Then do you want me to call you by your full name in front of the crew?"

"No. Never under any circumstance call me by that ghastly name."

"Then you won't say mine, Deal?"

"Deal."

With that Sanji continued on breakfast while Sami went and made herself a cup of tea. As the rest of the crew came in they were also surprised with the change in food but nevertheless ate the food and complimented Sanji for the well-made meal. A certain swordsman was also surprised with the food, reminding him of his hometown and ate everything he could. After the meal, Zoro checked the schedule of who's helping in washing the dishes and saw that it was him. He sighed and scratched his head as he grudgingly went to help with the mountain of dishes.

 _I have a new respect for dishwashers_ Zoro thought when the mountain of dishes had finally been washed, dried and put away. His arms were sore and his hands were wrinkled, resembling a prune. Actually it seems like a type of training, maybe he should ask the cook about letting him doing some more dishes, knowing the cook he would be delighted no matter the reason with the extra help.

"Hey, wait." Sanji called out to Zoro, who was about to leave for his daily training. Zoro turned his head in the direction of the cook and raised an eyebrow as Sanji went to the fridge and entered the code and took out something with a cover.

"It's a little dish I remembered and I thought you might like it." Sanji said as he removed the cover of the mystery dish. Zoro balked, there's a weird flat… bread? On the dish, but what he was really skeptical about was the pink dip. It was weird and chunky and it looked like cat food mixed with tuna that was dyed pink.

"You. Want me. To eat _that_?" Zoro stared at Sanji. "No, I refuse. I don't want food poisoning."

"Since when have I ever given you something that was harmful to your health?" Sanji said, slightly insulted that Zoro thought he would give the stupid swordsman something poisonous. "Just give it a try, if you don't like it I will give you something else that you might like next."

"There's more?" Zoro asked, horrified at the slight doom that was looming over him. "When did I become your guinea pig?"

"Just try it." Sanji rolled his eyes and when Zoro made no move to eat it, but just inspected it like it was going to come to life any minute, Sanji gave out a frustrated growl, tails swishing behind him irritably. Grabbing one of the bread pieces, he dipped it in the sauce and shoved it in the swordsman's mouth. Zoro looked like he was going to spit it out but one warning death glare form the cook on wasting food had Zoro chewing reluctantly. Zoro's eyes widened before reaching for another piece of bread, covering it in dipping and took another bite.

"See? Good isn't it?" Sanji smirked smugly while Zoro gave nothing but a grumble in reply before finishing of the dish.

"Can you tell me what I just ate?" Zoro asked still slightly suspicious at the mysterious pink dip. Sure it tasted it good but you never know on the Grand Line, plus it was made by the cook. While the food Question makes is good you never know what you're eating when the guy thinks anything that's edible is food, which can lead to some very interesting (and disturbing) consumptions.

"What you just ate was Taramasalata. It's a traditional dip from Greece that is made from the salted fish roe and is mixed with bread crumbs or mashed potato, lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil. It's normally spread on flat bread." Sanji explained, the words he said whirling around Zoro's head.

"I'm not even going to bother remembering that, but what the hell is fish roe?"

"Fish eggs."

Zoro stared. "…I just ate fish eggs? As in unborn fish?"

"You eat unborn baby chickens." Sanji pointed out.

Zoro pulled a weird face and stared accusingly at Sanji. "Why did you make me eat that?!"

"You still finished it off."

"Still! Unborn fish!" Zoro was shocked at what he just ate. Yeah, you can never be too sure with this guy and food.

"You be surprised of how many people would eat this on daily basis and this isn't the only dish you've ever had that had fish eggs in it. What did you think the orange orbs on the sushi I gave you were?" Sanji stated deadpanned at how people would immediately react once they found out they eat no matter how good it was. Zoro gaped at the reveal of exactly what the cook would give him. It just made him realise never piss the guy off, you never know what he could put in your food.

"…You said that this dip is consumed by people on daily basis. What type of people are they?" Zoro asked, still slightly disturbed at what he just ate.

"The 'type' of people, who ate this; are people from a country called Greece." Sanji rolled his eyes. "I gave you this for you to try because you seem like someone who would have originated from Greece if you were born in the world I had lived in."

"Greece?" Zoro questioned, forgetting about the unborn fish. "What kind of country is that?"

"Greece is a country of great interests and diverse cultures. Many people from that country are extremely proud to call it their homeland with the traditions, foods and not to mention the thousands of years of history." Sanji gave a brief overview of the country. "I originally thought of you as someone from Japan, considering your habits and traditions you follow but most Greeks are born with olive coloured skin, straight noses and dark coloured eyes like you. Greeks also are mostly born with dark hair but you have moss for hair so that doesn't really count for you, does it?"

"If I'm from Greece, what about the others? Where do they come from?" Zoro asked, feeling a vein pop at the teasing of his hair.

"Well, with Usopp, he would come from Africa, with his dark skin and curly hair, Robin-chan would come from… perhaps Russia? Or maybe even an Asian country with her black hair, Chopper would come from Canada, since it's a country that pretty much has snow all year round, Franky would come from America with all the crazy shit and loud personality he has, Luffy most likely would be from Brazil, Nami-san would be from Sweden since most not as common genetics such as ginger hair and blond are from that country and Brooke would be from Austria." Sanji said it all in one breath, he held up a finger to catch his breath again before speaking again. "And also as said before, Sami and I are half Swedish with our blond hair and blue eyes and half French."

Zoro was slightly overwhelmed with the sudden bombardment of different words and places he's never even heard of and was quite impressed with the assumptions that Sanji had come up with. The cook was already intelligent and quick-minded, along with his old memories he would most likely know a lot of things most people haven't even heard of. Zoro had already seen Sanji and Sami having a conversation with Robin and Zoro wasn't even sure if 90% of what they were saying was even in their language.

Sanji continued making Zoro try all the dishes he remembered until he was satisfied and had written it all down in his cookbook before the swordsman could leave. As the swordsman was about to leave he suddenly thought of something.

"Oi, cook."

"Hmm?" Sanji hummed in response, finishing off the last of his recipes.

"Why did you let me try the dishes? Why not the others, like Luffy or something?"

"Because, Luffy would just eat anything and not consider the tastes, Usopp would be too scared of trying some of new things I give him, the others would most likely be the same as Luffy except for maybe Brook but he's a skeleton and he's already died once, dying can make realise how you take certain things for granted so he would think it's good anyway and I can't let the ladies do things they don't want to, not even my sister can help much, since she has allergies." Sanji concluded and faced the swordsman. "While you, on the other hand, is not that picky about food and yet still has some sense in taste and appreciations for it, no allergies and is not too uncomfortable about trying new things."

Zoro was surprised with how the cook had viewed him. Despite always insulting the cook and only giving half-assed responses to his food, Zoro knew he was spoilt and would probably not be able to eat anything else other than Sanji's cooking. The cook's cooking was just that good and Zoro was quite happy that Sanji saw him in high light.

"Any other weird ass food?" Zoro asked jokingly, walking over and scratching the cook's ears. He smirked as the curlybrow unconsciously leant into the petting.

"There is, but you don't have to eat them. Not now." Sanji replied all too seriously. "There's chicken feet, duck tongue, live octopus, escargot, frog legs and lots of different versions of chocolate. And that's just beginning."

While Sanji seemed caught up in his excitement of thoughts of making new dishes Zoro was feeling the exact opposite, edging towards the door with each abnormality that escaped from the cook's mouth. Before the cook could bring out anymore of the weird crap he was spouting for Zoro to eat he ran out of the room and took refuge in the crow's nest.

* * *

"Zoro? What happened to you?"

Zoro looked up and saw Nami and Sami sitting on the couch in the crow's nest and remembered that it was Nami's watch. Not sure why Sami's there but she can do whatever she wants. He quickly closed the hatch to the crow's nest and sat beside Nami with a relieved sigh.

"…Are you going to tell me what happened?" Nami was extremely curious at what made Zoro like this.

"Crazy shit cook made me eat weird shit." Zoro replied. "I'm seeking refuge."

"The great swordsman is scared?" Nami smirked.

"Haha fuck you witch, no I said I'm seeking refuge."

"So you're hiding."

"NO I'M NOT."

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

"I hear the disbelief in your voice."

"No, really?"

"I hate you."

"I hate you too."

Sami sweat dropped at the verbal argument the two were having. It reminded her very much of certain arguments that she would have. _Is this what others see when me and Sanji fight?_

"So what horrifying concoction did he make this time?" Sami asked, going slightly green thinking about what she had eaten in the past and sympathizing with Zoro.

"He gave me this weird ass pink fish egg dip on bread." Zoro scrunched up his nose at the remembrance of what he had eaten. He's still not over the fact that he ate the fish eggs, oh god are fish going hatch in his stomach?! Zoro shuddered at the thought.

"What? Isn't Sanji-kun's cooking really good?" Nami was confused with the pukey faces the other two were making.

"Yes, he does make good food and it does taste good but…" Sami paused, she and Zoro shuddered simultaneously. "The ingredients he sometimes uses or just the dish in general can make you feel rather…disturbed if you know exactly what he made and what you're currently eating."

"That bad?" Nami sweat dropped at the furious nods she got in response. "Ok then, since food seems like such a weird topic let's move on shall we?"

"Please."

"Yes, please do."

"O-righty then, a new topic…hmm…" Nami tapped her finger on her chin, pretending to be in thought when she gained a Cheshire like grin. "Zoro tell us what you think about Sanji?"

"What?" Zoro sputtered, caught off guard with the strange question.

"Yeah, tell us what you think about my baby brother?" Sami asked good-naturedly, but Zoro shivered when he caught a certain glint in her eye.

"Well, he's annoying and a piece of shit."

"Drop the hate each other act, will you?" Nami huffed. "I know you're either gay or pansexual and don't think I haven't seen you eyeing Sanji-kun before."

Catching the glint in Sami's eye get more prominent and Zoro just has a tendency to go against anything the witch says he replies with a slight frantic undertone, "What are you talking about? I won't deny the fact I may be gay or pan but hell no to liking the cook!"

Nami put her hand to her ear, "do you hear that? Sounds like your debt on the verge of doubling for lying to me."

Zoro gaped, "you wouldn't."

"You think I won't?"

At this Zoro went quiet knowing that yes, Nami would. She will go to any lengths when it comes to her money. Sami seeing he conflict show on Zoro's face, decided to be a bit merciful and put her hand on Nami's shoulder. The two exchanged some looks before the joking atmosphere from before was replaced with something more serious and both girls moved their gazes to Zoro, causing him to shift uncomfortably with the intense stares he was getting.

"But seriously Zoro, how do you feel about Sanji?" Sami asked, "this isn't just us two joking around anymore, we want to know how you honestly feel and you're talking to professional liars, don't even try lying or denying, we can tell."

Zoro felt a bead of sweat go down his brow as he looked at the girls. He planned to lie and deny like usual but seeing the actual serious looks in both of their eyes caused his will to deflate as he sighed and thought about his confusing feelings.

"Where do you want me to start?" Zoro asked looking at Sami. Looking at her was like looking at the cook so it didn't help much with his thoughts, especially with the fact her eye was the exact same as the cook's...

"From the beginning." Sami stated, smiling encouragingly, Zoro looked over at Nami and when she also gave an encouraging nod he finally cracked.

"… My first thoughts on the cook was that he was only something we needed for survival, a source to food and keeping ourselves healthy, I didn't think much of him except that he was an idiot and a cook. DON'T say anything." Zoro glared over at Nami who opened her mouth but clicked it shut again. "But those thoughts eventually changed, I don't know when but I do know how. I saw how he cooked with passion, how he followed his own code of honour, the way he fights intrigued me, 'why would you handicap yourself when you fight?' I thought, seeing how he only fights with his feet and not his hands. I stopped thinking about it when I saw how strong he was when I first saw him fight."

Zoro smiled bitterly. "Then on I began to notice little things and big things about him, some things I noticed were so stupid and gave me fluttery feelings in my stomach and when I tried to train them away they never did. I saw how he has a lopsided smile, how intelligent he was, how he has a weird way speaking, always saying 'pardon' and 'excuse me' and all that shit. How he seems so graceful, like a dancer rather than someone who fights to kill, how he has this fragile look around him that has people underestimating him. They were in for a nasty surprise when they saw exactly what he was capable of." Zoro's smile brightened slightly. "His flexibility is quite amazing too, I've never seen another woman have the same amount in flexibility he has let alone another man."

"What do you think are bad qualities of Sanji-kun?" Nami smiled at what Zoro had said, winking over at Sami.

"I find him the most infuriating person I've ever met, no one else gets under my skin like him and he's always an annoying piece of shit. But there are times when even I don't remember why we're fighting, it just becomes fun. I haven't met anyone who I could fight without holding back for a long time before he came along."

"His cooking, His fighting style, his loyalty, how he's selfless to a fault, his intelligence and how he can somehow have some the best manners I've ever seen and yet still have the worst tongue." Zoro counted off, shocking the girls at how he said all of these so easily without a pause. "These are all obvious qualities I've noticed that were good about him. I've seen how he hums when he cooks, how he fiddles with his hands when he's nervous, how his ears go red when he's embarrassed, when he talks about his dreams he gets a light in his eye… what?"

Zoro could actually say much more but seeing the knowing looks the two girls were giving him made him feel uncomfortable. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"One last question Edamame." Sami flicked her tails.

"Edamame?" Zoro felt a vein pop. _Great another one._

"Describe how you feel when you're near San-chan." Sami said looking into Zoro's eyes.

Zoro paused, thinking about how he should answer. "It's like a weird fluttery thing in my stomach and it feels like there's a bunch of butterflies in there, I feel warmer and kinda fuzzy when I'm around him." Zoro concluded. "I've been trying to ignore it but it doesn't feel bad… it's actually kinda nice."

Zoro looked up saw shit-eating grins from the two girls and sweat dropped slightly. "Can you tell me why talking about how I feel for the cook makes you happy?"

"Because it always makes us happy to see a potential ship and you with my baby brother has a lot of potential." Sami smirked with Nami nodding her head agreeing.

"Ship? What are you talking about?"

 _Well done, little duck, even the perfect lover for you is dense like hell. How can they not see how compatible they are with each other?_ "Endamame, don't you get it?" Sami shook her head.

"Get what?" Zoro was starting to get annoyed with the responses he was getting and when all he received were unimpressed looks he snapped. "What am I not getting?!"

"You, my dear little mossy brains, have taken a liking to my little brother." Sami pointed at Zoro's face and when she got a similar clueless look she had gotten from someone else this morning she once again face palmed. "Argh why are all guys so dense and stupid?!"

"I agree completely." Nami stated from the side, nodding her head solemnly. "They're such troublesome creatures aren't they?"

"At least I get to the point." Zoro growled out, frustrated with the loopholed answers he was getting. "Just tell me!"

"You still don't get it?" Sami sighed before looking seriously into Zoro's eyes again. "You. Like. Sanji. And not in the nakama or just a friend way, you like him romantically."

"…eh?" Zoro stared. So that's what this was about? Really?

"I already know that." Zoro snorted, causing both Nami and Sami to blink in surprise. "I figured it out a few days ago."

Nami smiled. "I knew you were a rational person, Zoro. All I can give you as advice is don't try to train those feelings away because I can tell you that it won't."

"I would also like to add, that little duck over there is extremely dense and not easy to win over when once comes to his love life. My advice for you is just keep trying. Don't disappoint me." Sami stated.

"I will also add that if you ever, I repeat, ever break my brother's heart I will have you experience the worst torture in existence and make sure you'll regret ever meeting me or crossing me, got it?" Sami's eyes turned yellow as she glared at the swordsman. Zoro took the death stare full on and replied with absolutely no hesitation.

"Got it."

* * *

… **Did I make Zoro seem like a stalker? I feel like I did…**

 **Finally at least one of the two idiots is seeing sense! *cheers happily* and I don't have anything else to say.**

 **Please R &R!**

 **-Kagu-chan**


	7. Misunderstanding

**Yo! *pops up with a chapter after absence with no explanation***

 **I'm sorry this chapter's a bit shorter than others but it will return to normal length soon. I just need to wait until I have more time and can concentrate on writing this instead of essays.**

 **I'm sorry if the characters are occ**

 **Disclaimer: ONE PIECE SHALL BE MINE! MWAHAHAHAHA! Lol no, never gonna happen, never has and never will.**

* * *

Zoro sighed; he was sitting in the crow's nest trying to meditate. Trying. After the talk with the girls they left him to his thoughts. He knew the girls were going to pick up something, but they were wrong about him not knowing that he liked the cook. Zoro was aware that he was paying more attention to the cook more than he should, at first he thought it was just a crush that would fade but it eventually gotten stronger and now he doesn't know what to think. The girls just cleared it up and solidified his theory that he might like the cook. He didn't think it would be romantically though, he thought it would just be something that would pass. How very wrong he was.

Zoro suddenly called up a mental image of the cause of his problems. The gold hair, the blue eye, the stupid eyebrow, the ever present smoke and most recently matching ears and tails and Zoro felt himself warm up inside. He groaned and banged his head against the wall in frustration. Ok, so he likes the cook and it's not just a little thing either, full on romantically. Well that's just dandy.

Zoro rubbed his head as he sat down and sorted thought what he had been thinking and what the girls had said to him. Now that he's aware of his feelings he realised he has been feeling it for a while now, he just never acknowledged it or trained them away. He's never liked anyone before so suddenly being aware that he likes someone is mind boggling.

Sami had told him that foxes only normally only have one mate for their whole life. So if he manages to impress Sanji, the cook would be his for the rest of his life (or so he was told from a girl who was winking at him teasingly). Sami also warned him that Sanji can be extremely dense, much to Zoro's amusement, and that once he has sorted out his own feelings he should just try asking directly.

"Ok then." Zoro slapped his cheeks and gave a shake. "No more dwelling! You're Roronoa fucking Zoro! You can do this!" He scolded himself before nodding and began thinking about what the cook likes. Really how hard could seducing the idiot be?

* * *

"So you want some pointers huh?" Sami smiled, blowing out a cloud of smoke. After a slight argument with Sanji she somehow had managed to get him to give her a few cigarettes. With all the idiots she surrounded with, she will need some type of drug in her system to keep herself happy. How Nami and Robin can put up with it for so long without murdering someone or taking drugs is beyond her.

Zoro had just gone up to Sami and asked what her brother liked, much to her amusement, with blushing cheeks.

Sami took one more drag before putting out the cigarette. "I don't really have any pointers but I can tell you about his habits and things you don't know about him." Sami smiled cheekily, "I honestly don't believe that telling you this will help you, you're already good enough; just go ask him directly."

Zoro shifted uncomfortably at the sudden change in attitude from the woman. When he had gone up to Sami to learn more about the cook he was given a very _detailed_ warning of what the sister of his object of affections would do to him. Just listening what she would do if Sanji was ever hurt made Zoro wince. But only slightly, after all he was the 'Demon' of East Blue! But then Sami was an actual demon so a wince was acceptable. Thinking about Sami being a demon reminded Zoro of the other two female members of the ship and female enemies the Strawhats encountered. Zoro suddenly realised that all women are bat shit crazy. _Note to self: never underestimate a woman; if you do scary shit will happen._

"Hello? Earth to Endamame?" Sami waved her hand in front of Zoro's face and got no response. Sami paused for a second before making a huge act of reaching for Zoro's swords. At the action Zoro snapped back to the present with a sudden wave of Déjà vu, as he glared at Sami.

"Ok, ok, no one will touch them." Sami raised her hands in surrender, arching her eyebrow, as if she was unimpressed with the glare that would usually send people running for the hills. "You want my advice on courting my baby brother and here's what I'm going to tell you."

Sami took a deep breath. "Just. Do it. I'm told you then and I'm telling you now. Go for it, have 5 seconds of courage, say what you want and how you feel. When he answers your feelings, have a talk with him. Take it slow and easy, don't be so prideful and stubborn and tell each other when you're uncomfortable and you want to stop."

"But what if he doesn't return my feelings? What if he's disgusted with me? What if he hates me and wants to leave the ship? Oh god that's exactly what's going to happen, I'll tell him my feelings and he'll hate me and eave the ship Then it will be my fault and then the crew will blame me and then I will have to leave and… and…" Zoro began to panic, completely oblivious to how little sense he was making. Sami stared deadpanned at the scenarios the swordsman was coming up with and face palmed. _Another reason why I don't want to fall in love, I do not want to become an irrational person because I let my feelings get ahead of me._ Sami straightened up and slapped the swordsman across the head, causing him to stop and look up with a surprised look.

"Pull yourself together! You're Roronoa Zoro, a grown ass man who most people consider a demon!" Sami scolded. "You're a master of the three swords style who's aiming to be the best! Are you really going to be so paranoid about this? Be the man you are and think rationally!"

Zoro blinked and stared at the irritated fox-girl, her tails fluffing up and swishing behind her with her ears flat on her head kind of ruined the effect of trying to look threatening. In fact it just reminded Zoro of Chopper when he was trying to scold the crew for not looking out for their injuries after a battle. Now that he snapped out of his panic mode, he started to laugh at the mental image of comparing the reindeer-human and fox demon girl. All Sami did was raise her curly eyebrow as her ears stood up straight again in confusion at the sudden laughing fit the swordsman was having.

"Ahahahaha, I'm sorry, it's just your tails and ears… Ahahaha," Zoro laughed before looking up again and smiling at Sami. "Thanks, I feel better now… but how can you be so sure he won't turn me down?" Zoro frowned again.

Sami couldn't help but smile. To think that one of the most prideful and stubborn men she's ever met is so insecure about confessing. _I guess it just proves that everyone's human, no matter what._

Sami walked over and put her hand on Zoro's shoulder, reassuringly. "Don't worry, trust me on this one, he won't turn you down. Even if he did, which he won't, he won't hate you and he will let you leave with most of your pride." Sami stated firmly. "Sanji seems like the type who will reject you harshly but he's a big softie when it comes to romance, full on face to face confession will definitely earn brownie points from him. Also don't panic if he seems to react negatively, he just trying to process things in his head." Sami snorted. "He's use to giving out compliments to others, just not very good on the receiving end."

Zoro went quiet for a moment thinking about how he was going to do this. Soon Sami saw steam coming out of the swordsman's ears and was going red in the face as she sweat dropped. _Looks like he's just as clueless as my baby brother in the love department…_

Sami sighed before looking at Zoro with exasperation. "How about you practice with me? I look pretty much identical to him; once you're confident enough you can go tell the real thing." Sami pointed out.

At this Zoro lifted his head and stared at Sami. That… actually wasn't a bad idea.

"You don't mind?" Zoro asked hesitantly.

Sami smiled again. "Its fine, it's perfectly understandable to be nervous, no one is calm when it comes to confessing. It's literally throwing your heart out there with a chance of being caught and treasured or fall to the ground and be stomped on."

Zoro sweat dropped at her description. _Well that sure was a confidence boost_ he thought sarcastically. He straightened his back and glared at Sami and opened his mouth but before he could say anything Sami was already shaking her head.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to confess or prepare for a death match? Try again, be more relaxed and don't glare." Sami scolded, giving out pointers of what Zoro was doing wrong.

Zoro growled and tried again, relaxing slightly and trying to soften his glare. Now all he was doing was scowling.

"Also stop scowling, it's not very attractive." Sami told he swordsman.

"That's my face." Zoro growled out, "I was born with it."

"You're born with a permanent scowl? Really?" Sami paused, "can you at least try to smile?"

As Zoro attempted, Sami started shaking her head again. "Don't do that, you look like a pedo. Try turning it down a notch."

After a few more tries Sami was finally satisfied with the result. Zoro on the other hand was staring to get more annoyed than nervous. _Confessing's a pain, why am I doing this again? It's just a question and a statement._

"So are you going to say something?" Sami pointed out, continueing when she got the swordsman's attention again. "Endamame, I want you to pretend that I am Sanji, once you got that, confess."

Zoro rolled his eyes slightly and did as he was instructed. It really wasn't that hard, she really did look identical to the cook; she was even flat-chested enough to pass for a man to some people. Zoro imagined that in Sami's place was the cook. With the golden hair, the grey-blue eye, curly eyebrow, the cigarette…

Zoro opened his mouth. "I-I-I-I…"

Zoro frowned, the stammering wasn't supposed to happen.

"It's fine, take as long as you need, try again when you're ready." Sami smiled encouragingly.

Zoro kept frowning but he opened his mouth again. Only this time no sound came out. Zoro gave a frustrated groan and silently berated himself. _Argh man up already Zoro! It's just a few words, just get it out there!_

Zoro took a few deep breaths, opened his eyes and stared at Sami in the eye. He saw the cook's smiling face and he opened his mouth again.

"I like you."

"Huh?"

At the sudden intrusion of a new voice Sami and Zoro whipped their heads in the direction of the doorway and saw… Sanji standing at the doorway, staring wide-eyed and mouth gaping. _Ah, shit._ Both thought simultaneously.

Sanji started to gain a pink tinge across his cheeks. "I'm so-so-rry, I uh didn't mean to um intrude…uh" Sanji began to stammer, his blush deepened and he bowed deeply. "Excuse me!"

With that Sanji fled from the door leaving behind a gobsmacked sister and swordsman. The remaining two stared at the door for a while.

"…Did he just?"

"I think so."

"He misunderstood."

Silence.

"Well what are you waiting for?! Go chase after him!" Sami snapped out of her previous stupor and gestured wildly at the swordsman.

Sami's wild gesturing snapped Zoro out of his own stupor. "Oh, shit!" he yelped and he chased after the cook.

Sami sighed and shook her head before laughing at the simple misunderstanding that every couple she came across had experienced. _Once that's cleared up, there'll be a new couple on the ship._ Sami thought gleefully.

* * *

 _Around the same time Zoro started talking to Sami…_

Sanji was in the kitchen and preparing for the day's lunch and he was humming a small tune, slightly swaying to the beat in his head. As he was cooking he didn't notice Nami and Robin slip in quietly so they can have a talk with him about certain affections but they decided to listen to Sanji's humming and sounds of cooking for little while, enjoying the relaxing sound of rhythmic chopping and Sanji's humming. While they were finishing of the rest of their drinks that Sanji always made them they were surprised to hear Sanji open his mouth and started to sing actual words. At least they think its words; it's nothing like they've ever heard of, with different accents and completely different pronunciations. It's was completely foreign and nothing like they've ever heard of. The girls continued to listen in awe and were surprised at how good the cook was at singing. Every note seemed in tune and the song seems well rehearsed. But they were disappointed when the cook finally turned around and stopped at the sight of the two girls sitting at the table listening to him.

"N-Nami-san? Robin-chan?" Sanji asked surprised before flushing slightly. "…Did you hear?"

"Yes we did indeed, Cook-san, and I must say that your singing voice is quite good." Robin replied.

"Yeah! But what were the weird words you were singing? It didn't sound like our language." Nami wondered.

"Ah, that was a song in the language of English." Sanji replied, mostly over his embarrassment of being caught singing. "What I was singing before was the song 'Fireflies'. It's a song by 'Owl City'."

"Can you translate the lyrics for us?" Robin inquired, smiling slightly.

"Hmm, I not sure, but I can try." Sanji smiled back. He thought for a little bit before finally looking up and translated the lyrics.

 _"You would not believe your eyes_

 _If ten million fireflies_

 _Lit up the world as I fell asleep_

 _'Cause they'd fill the open air_

 _And leave tear drops everywhere_

 _You'd think me rude_

 _But I would just stand and stare_

 _I'd like to make myself believe_

 _That planet Earth turns slowly_

 _It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep_

 _'Cause everything is never as it seems_

 _When I fall asleep"_

As Sanji finished Nami sighed happily. "Sounds like a very romantic song and it's not even about love."

"It does have very lovely lyrics and a beautiful tune." Robin mused, polishing off the remaining of her drink. "And you do have a very lovely voice, Cook-san."

"Thank you." Sanji blushed again at the compliments he was getting. He never really was good at receiving compliments; he might be bad as Chopper when it comes down to it.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about ladies?" Sanji questioned, smirking slightly with a glint in his eye.

Robin and Nami were surprised but then they smirked as well.

"Down to business, huh? Seems like you institutions are better now, Sanji-kun." Nami looked over at Sanji resting her chin on her hands. "But I not too surprised."

"I have gained memories of a past life, Nami-san. I wouldn't be too surprised either, not only I have animal instincts, but I also have another life's worth of experience." Sanji chuckled. "Brook, Sami and I have formed an 'already died once' club."

The girls' smiles widened slightly at the joke. But there was also another reason why they were smiling.

"If that's the case then… Sanji-kun, what are your feelings for Zoro?" Nami asked.

Sanji blinked and tilted his head to the side. "The marimo? What about him?"

Nami stared at the simple reply. No blushing, stammering or denial, just a genuine curious question with a blank look.

"I believe the first question we should have asked was if Cook-san was ever in love." Robin explained to Nami before looking over to Sanji. "Have you ever been in love, Cook-san?"

Sanji blinked again but this time there was a slight pink flush. "Love? I'm not too sure… I have felt attraction but I'm not sure about love…"

"Hmm" Robin hummed thoughtfully. "I suppose true love does take time for it to manifest. We've heard from Dancer-san that neither you or she are very easy at falling in love."

"That's true." Sanji nodded in confirmation.

"She also told us the specific feelings you felt when you're around Swordsman-san, such as feeling warm and fuzzy inside?"

"…also…true…"

"We also heard you were rather dense when it comes to your own love life, so we've decided to help you in gaining the affections of Zoro!" Nami explained with a big smile.

"True… wait, pardon?" Sanji stared at the two girls, slightly shocked. "You think I might be in love with the marimo?"

The two girls nodded and they stared nervously to see how Sanji would react. Would he flat out deny it? Would he laugh at the idea? Would he be shocked and disgusted with such a suggestion?

Sanji was only quiet, much to the girls' suspense, before he spoke softly. "Let me process that for a moment, if you don't mind ladies."

"…That would explain the weird feeling I get around the shitty swordsman." Sanji mused and shrugged slightly. "I wouldn't call it love just yet but to think I would fall for a directionless swordsman…geez I have really low standards."

"So you're not gonna deny it?" Nami asked.

Sanji smiled at Nami, his tails swishing slightly behind him. "No, as I said before I have already lived a life, nothing really fazes me to me honest right now. All I need to do is think rationally and calmly." Sanji tilted his head again. "I've never been in love before...but I suppose actual love will take time to manifest as Robin-chan said. You start with something small and eventually it'll grow, is that correct?" Sanji aimed the question at Nami and Robin.

"Yes, that is true, Cook-san" Robin smiled.

"Now that you know about your feelings, are you going to confront Zoro?" Nami questioned.

Sanji thought for a bit. "Think I might, however I'm not sure how Zoro would react." Sanji twitched his ears nervously. "I don't think the directionless child would have a problem with a man liking him, but I don't believe it would be easy to gain the affections of the mosshead."

Robin and Nami smiled knowingly, it was all going according to plan. Right about now Sami should be having a talk with Zoro about the cook with they were talking to Sanji. If things go well then the swordsman and cook would start dating.

"Would it make you feel better that we suspect that Swordsman-san might like you too?" Robin suggested.

At this mention Sanji stared. The swordsman likes him? Zoro? They were talking about the same person, right?

"That can't be possible, Robin-chan. That marimo swordsman concentrates way too hard to fulfil his dream to have any time for something simple as relationships." Sanji explained, shaking his head at the idea. But then when the swordsman does fulfil his dream what will he do? Probably stare at nothing for a bit after his victory and go 'ok. What now?' Sanji snickered slightly at that. Yeah the kelp head would definitely do that.

"You never know until you try." Nami insisted. "You two are one of our top fighters. Not only that you two have one of the most stressful jobs on this crew. Sanji-kun, not only are you in charge of every single one of our diets, but you constantly looking out for everyone in fights as much as Zoro does as first mate. Zoro needs to take on the load of always watching out for our idiot captain and being co-captain when needed. Both of you idiots have been taking too much stress and I believe that you are exactly what Zoro needs as much as you are what Zoro needs."

"If you're worried about anyone on the crew not accepting you relationship, don't worry. I'm sure Captain-san would have a talk with them." Robin added. "This isn't just getting into a relationship anymore, you two need each other as support."

Sanji bowed his head in thought, before smiling slightly and looked up again. "I guess I can go for 5 seconds."

"Huh?" Nami was slightly confused at the answer. Robin only waited for the cook to continue.

"5 seconds of courage. It's something that helped my sister when she had a slight case of stage fright, she would calm herself down and just think 'I don't care if I look stupid, I'm just going to go out there and give it my all, have 5 seconds of absolute courage and it will flow along.' If she doesn't have do the '5 seconds of courage' she most likely would have never doe half of the things she was afraid of." Sanji explained.

Nami smiled. "Then what are you waiting for? 5 seconds are 5 seconds, get moving! The seconds don't last forever. Zoro's right in the aquarium room!"

"Yes ma'am!" Sanji saluted and he rushed off. Robin and Nami smiled and laughed. No matter how hard Sanji tries to look cool, his inner adorkableness always shines through. Even with a new set of memories, Sanji will always be Sanji and neither of the two girls would ever change anything about him.

 _5 seconds, you just need 5 seconds!_ Sanji stopped in front of the door. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

"I like you."

"Huh?"

Sanji froze. Zoro was in the room with his sister and they were facing each other and were giving him stunned looks. Sanji quickly read the situation.

"I'm so-so-rry, I uh didn't mean to um intrude…uh" Sanji could feel himself flushing and he bowed deeply. "Excuse me!"

Sanji quickly fled, feeling confused about what just happened. Did Zoro just confess? To Sami? Well Sanji has no objections to that, if the shitty swordsman hurt her he will first suffer pain both mentally and physically from both of the twins. Its fine, Sanji gets it. Sami is a beautiful woman and not only that she's extremely strong too so she can hold her own in a fight and besides what were the chances of Zoro even liking a guy who always teases him and fights him? It's fine.

Sanji gritted his teeth. Its fine, it makes sense and yet…

Why does he still feel the stab of pain in his heart?

* * *

 **Oh dramatic! *DUN DUN DUUUUN!***

 **I always find it funny how that nearly every couple goes through the misunderstanding that they like another person. It actually kinda makes me feel sorry for them to go through such cliques.**

 **Please review and give me comebacks!**

 **-Kagu-chan**


	8. Official

**Hello! *ducks to avoid objects being thrown***

 **I'm so sorry this chapter is so late! Waah! *gets into dogeza position* PLEASE FORGIVE ME!**

 **I don't really have any excuses other than I had to get a new laptop and also I had no internet for a short time but here's a super long chapter from me to compensate! ^.^ (seriously it's really long)**

 **Note:**

"speech out loud"

 _"speech in a different language"_

 _thoughts_

 _'speech telepathically'_

 **Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing about One Piece except my shitty fanfictions that you poor souls are reading.**

* * *

Sanji sighed. After running around most of the ship and half the island, he is now currently hiding out in the kitchen, crouching in a small ball just out of sight. If you didn't know where to look for him, you wouldn't be able to see him. The only source of light in the dark room, were the floating blue orbs that glowed softly around the blond haired cook.

 _This is pathetic, why am I hiding?_ Sanji thought. _This is ridiculous, Sanji you are a coward!_

Despite berating himself Sanji can't find the motivation to move. He sighed again and buried his face into his knees, his tails curling around him protectively and ears drooping sadly.

One of his ears flicked up when he heard the creak of the door open, tensing slightly before his ears drooped again when he didn't hear the tell-tale noise of heavy boots that belonged to a certain marimo. At first he wanted to stay absolutely silent and hope the person who came in would get what they need and go away. He was half tempted to place an invisibility illusion on himself to stay hidden but looks like the world has decided today is 'Lets fuck with Sanji day!' and it had to be the one person on this whole ship who can find him no matter what.

"Little duck? I know you're here." A familiar voice called out. "We need to talk."

Sanji's ears flicked, as he slowly unravelled himself from a self-made cacoon of tails. He knew his sister only used that nickname when she wants him to listen to her with no questions. He made a noise like a dying animal to indicate where he was before curling into a ball again.

"Oh Sanji, are you really going to keep this habit?" Sami sighed as she turned around the corner of the small bar that lead to the kitchen and caught the sight of her brother. "You do realise that no matter how many times you become a ball it won't help."

"It makes me feel better and it's not like I stay like this forever." Sanji mumbled; voice muffled from burying his face in his knees. "It's either I get over it myself or you interrupt my 'pity self-time' and force me to be happy again."

"If you know that then get off your ass already, we need to talk and I can't talk to a fur-ball." Sami poked her brother's tails to prove her point. Sanji didn't move. "Are you really going to ignore a lady's wishes?"

That did it. "Ok, fine." Sanji grumbled, slowly getting up and brushing himself off. "But I don't see what we need to talk about, if the shitty swordsman likes you then he likes you, I understand it perfectly. If he's was only half-assed about it we'll just-"

"Edamame head wasn't confessing to me."

Sanji stared at Sami, confused. "…but I would have sworn that I heard…"

"Well, yes you heard correctly, but that confession wasn't meant for me." Sami explained, she sighed exasperatedly when Sanji only got more confused. "Stupid, he was practicing on how to confess."

"Oh" Sanji breathed out before frowning in confusion again. "To who?"

"To you, ditzy brains!" Sami exclaimed and rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming. "He was practicing with me because I look nearly identical to you and he didn't want to fumble over his words and chicken out at the last minute when he tries confessing to the real thing. So I told him he can practice with me."

"To me?" Sanji was incredulous, staring at his sister. "He was practicing with you, so he could confess to me?"

"No shit, Sherlock." Sami replied blandly, swishing her tails in irritation.

Sanji started staring off into space, looking rather dazed. Zoro was going to confess to him? Never in his wildest dreams, had he ever thought that Zoro would try to confess to anyone. He didn't even think the swordsman would even think about having a romantic relationship with anyone. Or could. If the swordsman ever settles down it would be with someone pretty damn special.

And the Shitty Marimo chose him?

Sami clucked her tongue, before raising an eyebrow as she saw the gears in Sanji's head turning to process the information. _In 5…4…3…2…1…_

Sanji's eye widened in realisation, before flushing bright red. Well that was embarrassing, he completely misunderstood the situation. And in the clique way of those romance novels too! Argh what did he do to deserve this?

"Finally got it?" Sami asked, in monotone.

Sanji stammered for a little while, muttering complete gibberish that Sami wasn't even going to bother to interpret. Sami was the closest person to Sanji there is, she knows all of his habits and is always the first person to see that he's upset; he just needs to let it out if his system and then he'll think rationally again. Sure enough, Sanji gained back his normal skin colour and was no longer muttering gibberish. Only he seemed rather depressed now, with his ears drooping again and tails twitching to cacoon himself again, an action that Sami has seen a few times before. Oh no, not gonna happen, Sami is not letting him push away something he deserves again because of some stupid reason that only makes sense to him.

"I know that look; it's your 'I'm going to give something up because it's for the best' look, what's the problem?" Sami asked, leaning against the counter, her ears turned in the direction of her brother. "I swear if it's going to be another bullshit reason I will bitch slap you so hard in the face you'll be seeing stars for weeks. Then try to reason with you that you're being stupid."

 _Can't you reason with me first?_ Sanji sweat dropped and he shook his head. "Sami, I know you're good at reading people's personalities; you tell me, that Marimo Swordsman would never last in relationship. He would be too caught up in achieving his dream and a relationship would just get in his way. He doesn't need distractions nor does he want to anything straying him from his path of achieving his dream. Plus, there's also always the chance that his feelings would fade. But me? The moment I fall I will stay that way and I'm already aware that I feel an attraction towards him for quite some time now. If this attraction of mine goes any further I will be treading in dangerous waters, Sami. We're not normal humans, we're artificial demons with the nature of an animal. Once we fall in love there's no going back."

After Sanji finished explaining, Sami went quiet for a while. Then she went and slapped him on his head. Again.

"Ow! Will you please stop slapping me out of nowhere?" Sanji rubbed the back of his head.

"No." Sami stated, deadpanned. Sanji sweat dropped again.

"You were the one that said I'm good at reading personalities and I can tell you that what you're thinking is wrong." Sami smiled at her brother. "While yes, that lost case of a directionless swordsman is extremely dedicated to his swordsmanship and his dream, I've seen him to be extremely loyal, someone who would put their all in everything they do without a fail. If greenie gets into a relationship, he will always be there for you. Besides I believe it will do _both_ of you good if you have a shoulder to lean on when things get too tough. Having a lover will not hinder the mosshead one bit, little duck, it will help him."

"How on earth does having a distraction help the Marimo's dream?" Sanji asked, still apprehensive about what his sister told him.

"First of all, the swordsman having a lover is _not_ a distraction. It only gives the broccoli all the more reason to be stronger so that he will be able to protect his loved ones." Sami saw Sanji beginning to protest and continued on before he could say anything. "I know what you're going to say, that you don't need protecting and that you can take care of yourself but it's a human instinct to protect your loved ones from harm in any way you can. From what I've seen these people they are unlike the most of the human race, they don't seem to have a proper sense of 'flee or fight' so they would always want to look out for others first. This includes the greenhead, Sanji. So, lost child gaining a lover will not hinder him, it will only motivate him to become stronger. Do you hear me, little duck? If you become Zoro's lover you will not be a distraction but a _motivation_."

"But there's still the case of-" Sanji began to argue.

"Yes, I know." Sami interrupted in a firm tone, silencing all the words that were coming out of Sanji's mouth. "I know that getting into a relationship for us is dangerous territory. After all we can only fall in love once and it's literally handing our heart over in the care of someone else. If they break it, we can't piece it back together like others. You'll be surprised how heartbreak can ruin a person." Sami took on a bitter tone, causing Sanji to flinch, before she become normal again.

"I know that this is going against everything you've been trying to prevent which is falling in love, but." Sami smiled sadly and took Sanji's hands in hers, smaller hands in bigger hands, each equally calloused as the other from handling different knives for different purposes. "Trust me on this one. I'm your sister; I only want the best for you. It makes me sad to see you to give everything away and not get anything in return. And believe me you deserve a lot, and falling in love is only a small piece of what you deserve."

"…What if his feelings do fade? Are they even there in the first place? What would happen to me if I do fall? I've seen what love can do to a person and honestly?" Sanji said quietly, eyes lowering before whispering.

"I'm scared."

"Take it slow." Sami placed a hand on Sanji's cheek and turned his head so he would look at her in the eye. "I can tell you now that if you think it's not gonna work, you two would need to talk. Relationships aren't a joke, sure it might feel good to have someone to turn to when you're down, but it's no good if there's no solid ground to stand on. The best way to fix problems is to talk it out, start off slow. Don't rush it; if you do, it will be too much of an emotional toll on the both of you. There is no 'girl' or 'boy' in relationships like yours; you don't need to degrade yourself to childish nonsense like that. It's fine to pour your hearts out to each other, to see each other's tears, to look for comfort and support. Lovers are meant to be there for you no matter what; don't let something as dumb as pride and stubbornness get in your way. Listen to your heart, not just your brain. Whether it's going to be a relationship that lasts or not is up to the both of you; he seems to be the type who can balance it out between his dreams and spending times with his loved ones.""

After her small speech Sami gave Sanji a hug, who after a slight moment returned it.

"Wow that was one of the mushiest things I ever said in my two lives. I don't know whether I like it or I should feel grossed out that I can say shit like that." Sami muttered into her brother's shoulder while Sanji laughed before backing up again and smiled brightly at his sister.

"Thanks Swan, I feel a lot better now." Sami smiled at the familiar nickname and remembered to have a slight talk with a certain someone later.

"So do I talk about feelings and shit with the marimo?" Sanji joked.

"Actually, yes you do, you're catching on faster than I thought." Sami replied, not catching the joking tone her brother used, "It may not be comfortable to talk about it but I recommend you try it. Or you can solve it in your own way, you seem to have an interesting chemistry with the edamame head."

Sanji chuckled and froze when he remembered how his last encounter with Zoro ended.

"Shit! Then me running off… oh god, I need to find that shitty moss right now!" He rushed out of the door in search of the lost swordsman.

Sami just sighed and shook her head. _Men are idiots._

* * *

Zoro panted as he looked around. _Where did all the trees come from?_

After chasing the cook around the ship and half of the island Zoro had somehow managed to lose sight of the blond hair and is now in the middle of what seems to be a small forest. Can the shit cook teleport now with his new powers?

Either way it was starting to get dark and Zoro doesn't have the time to look for the cook anymore. He needs to get back to the ship.

 _Ok, it's a good thing I know the island well from running all over the place. I'll go right._

Zoro started walking… in the left direction. It wasn't until an hour later he realised he had no idea where he was. The trees seem denser than before and there were ominous glowing red eyes. Zoro suddenly heard a growling and when he turned in the direction of the noise he saw a large tiger the size of an elephant. It had purple fur and fangs that were as big as Zoro himself. And the thing's slobber was purple? Suddenly a drop of the 'slobber' dripped onto the forest floor and the floor burned and hissed, leaving behind a black scorch mark. Ok then, a poisonous, giant, purple tiger. Lovely.

Zoro smirked as he unsheathed his swords, eyes gaining a red glow of his own. _Looks like I've found tonight's dinner._

The tiger flinched and began sweating profusely. Looks like it made a mistake on what type of prey it wanted. All that was heard was a small noise of swords slashing against air and a loud thud.

Now Zoro was lost with a 4 ton tiger being dragged behind him. To top it off it was now completely dark and the amount of growls is increasing and Zoro was not in the mood to clean the blood of the beasts off his swords when he gets back. Zoro stopped when he heard rustling that was closer than comfortable distance, as he crouched down, ready to attack anything that was going to approach him. What actually jumped out at him was not what he expected.

A tiny little golden fox jumped out, with black tipped ears and a tail with glowing blue orbs surrounding it. It crashed into Zoro's face and thanks to the swordsman's quick reflexes he caught it in his hands. Zoro stared, he had a feeling he's seen the fox somewhere before…

"Cook?" Zoro asked cautiously, bringing the little fox, which was definitely smaller than he originally remembered, closer to his face. The fox just rolled its eyes (can foxes roll their eyes?) and nodded stared pointedly into Zoro's eyes. Zoro immediately relaxed before glaring at the fox-cook.

"So, are you going to run and get lost again?" Zoro asked pointedly. At this the cook growled, tails bristling, it looked like the cook was snapping back at him. Only, you know, Zoro can't speak fox. But he has known the cook long enough to guess what he implying.

"I was not the one that got lost! You were the one that ran off, jumping to conclusions!" Zoro snapped. At this Sanji quietened down and looked off to the side sheepishly. Zoro also looked off to the side awkwardly and sighed heavily.

"Look, since I'm pretty sure you know what was going on before; I don't need to say anything do I? You know I may have started to harbour feeling for an idiot like you and I would like to give it a shot whether we'll work out or not. If you think it's not gonna work, that's fine, you can just tell me." Zoro mumbled, sitting down and making sure the little fox as still facing him.

' _No! No, don't think that I don't want this to work, I do!'_ The cook's panicked voice rang out in Zoro's head. ' _Sami helped clear my head and I want to try to see if we could work out!'_

Zoro was surprised at the answer he was provided. He was so sure the cook would tell him that them being in a relationship would never work and that it would hinder the crew and make things awkward but turns out the cook is not only willingly to go along with the idea but he was panicking that Zoro had changed his mind.

'… _So you're not mad that I ran off?'_ The cook's voice asked after a slight tense silence between them.

Zoro shook his head to answer the cook's answer and the little fox visibly relaxed. "I was mad, not anymore though." Zoro grumbled, "I want to be mad but I see no point."

Zoro smiled slightly, even though the cook's voice was in his head he can hear the sheepish tone ringing out, it was just like listening to the cook talk out loud. He began petting the cook's head, scratching behind the ears every now and then. Soon enough Zoro heard a familiar purring noise coming from the cook again as the little fox completely relaxed in Zoro's lap.

"So, are we gonna talk about how this is going to work? Or do you just want to sit here forever in silence?" Zoro asked out loud. The little fox opened one of his eyes (when did they close?) and sat up again.

' _Well, I'm relatively new to this relationship business so do you know how to start?'_ Sanji asked telepathically.

"You're asking me? There's a reason I call you love-cook you know?" Zoro replied back, deadpanned. "Of all people out there I thought that you would know the most about being in a relationship."

' _I've seen people in relationships, never been in one. All I see is either lovey-dovey mush or heartbreak and fights. I know about as much as you when it comes to this. I can flirt, I can get someone's attention but the problem is keeping that attention and making it evolve into to something more.'_ Sanji replied back, his tails swishing behind him. _'All I know is what Sami told me and I can tell you now, just by listening to what she said about relationships, it's not going to be easy. Are you still willing to try this with me?'_

"I would never bring this up if I didn't know the complications that come with doing this?" Zoro smirked and gave a rough pat on the cook's head which resulted in gaining a very annoyed look from the little fox. "I'm not as stupid you think; I know what I'm getting into besides I like a challenge. So where do we start?"

' _Well I suppose we start off with saying our feelings?'_ Sanji suggested weakly unsure himself and grimaced at how stupid it sounded. Zoro seems to agree, giving him a very unimpressed look.

"Really?" Zoro asked rhetorically. "That's the best you can come up with Ero-Cook? I thought you were smarter than that."

' _Well I don't know, unless you have better ideas Shitty Marimo, I don't know how else to start!'_ Sanji snapped back, the blue orbs that were glowing softly around Sanji suddenly burned brighter, looking like blue fireballs surrounding him. _'God you frustrate me so much!'_

' _And you know what? Despite finding you one of the most irritating thing on the planet, you the one I'm actually considering to give my heart to!'_ Suddenly it all came out in a rush, like a dam that had burst and all the thoughts that Sanji had of Zoro since they've met and some others that he wasn't even aware of was all said in Zoro's head. _'Ever since I first met you, you had my attention, ever since we our first fight after only knowing each other for 5 fucking minutes I had found you the most infuriating thing in existence, normally I don't bother with people who try to piss me off but you,_ you _somehow managed to make me angry in 2 seconds flat no matter how I felt previously and somehow manage to drag me into every single one of our pointless fights. You refuse to even acknowledge my cooking just to piss me off and guess what? Because of that it aspired me to make your food a shitty good as possible. Heck, your food is probably around the standards of Nami-san's or Robin-chan's meals, sometimes possibly even better than theirs and you still don't say anything! Not a single sound that indicates that it's good or not and it frustrates me so much. You're annoying, rude, lazy, you probably have more muscle than brain and a complete slob and Neanderthal and yet...'_

Sanji's voice suddenly went soft, the blue orbs floating around him slowly dimming back to its soft warm blue colour, _'no matter how annoying I find you, no matter how many times you make my blood boil, I know just hearing one compliment from you for my cooking would make my day. You somehow managed to convince me to just have a normal conversation over sake together. After a whole entire day of fighting and shouting at each other we still somehow end up having quiet conversations about anything and everything. While you can make me angry you can also make me feel calm, relaxed and at peace. When I saw you get sliced in half by Mihawk I thought you were insane and crazy…and yet deep down I felt admiration for you, and that admiration only grew ever since I joined this crazy crew. I trust you more than anyone to watch my back in battles and it's honestly thrilling to be able to fight together with you. Fighting each other is one thing but when we fight together? I get a high that I never get in any other situation. I hate you, I respect you, I admire you, I want to kick you into bloody oblivion most of the damn time, you somehow managed to fuel my want to become better at cooking just by annoying me and I am starting to believe I might be feeling something else that might be defined as love, whether I've already felt like this before or it still needs to grow more, I know these feelings I have for you are for you and for you alone.'_

When Sanji finished talking, Zoro went quiet for a long time, too shocked to even come up with even a word in response to that. He knew the cook had strong emotions but this was surreal. As the silence continued Sanji turned his face away and stared at the ground, ears flattened against his head and became extremely tense. When Zoro saw this action he was confused but soon realised from the cook's body language that after the cook had said everything he could think of that was what he thought of Zoro, he was giving the swordsman a chance to back out if he wanted too. Yeah, not gonna happen, not after a speech like that.

Zoro started petting Sanji's head awkwardly before grumbling, "Stop being so tense will you? Do you really think I would back away just from listening to your feelings? More like I am going to stay and tackle this head on."

' _You're still willing to do this? After all of that?'_ Sanji asked surprised, ears perking up. _'Do you really feel this strong for me? I thought I was considered an asshole in your books?'_

"Yeah, well how to put this into words…uh…" Zoro scratched his head before his face gained a slight pink tinge and he turned his face away before exclaiming, "argh, never mind it's too hard to say it out loud. I'm not like you."

' _If it's easier you can think it if you want. I can do telepathy, remember?'_ Sanji reminded, slightly curious at why Zoro suddenly wouldn't look at him in the eye. At this Zoro's eyebrow slightly twitched, face going a deeper pink which only made Sanji even more curious and also amused. Sanji gained a mischievous glint in his eye that Zoro did not like at all. Suddenly the cook's eyes dilated and flashed yellow and Zoro couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the cook's. It felt like he was in a daze; it was like when he was meditating, when his brain is in a half aware mode.

Then just like a snap of the fingers Zoro became alert again. It was like be shocked awake out of a dream and the first thing that Zoro saw was the strange look that were in the cook's huge expressive eyes.

"What was that? What did you do? And why are you staring at me like that?" Zoro asked, slightly weirded out by what just happened.

' _I just had a peek into your thoughts that's all.'_ Sanji replied indifferently as if looking into someone else's brain was perfectly normal. He even began to inspect and smooth out his tails which caused Zoro to feel rather pissed off. Unknown to the swordsman, Sanji was feeling rather glad for having a layer of fur to hid the no doubt bright red flush on his face.

"Peek into my thoughts my ass! It was like you suddenly drugged me or something!" Zoro exclaimed at the seemingly all too calm Strawhat Cook completely forgetting the fact the cook may have gained something more personal than expected. "And what do you mean peek into my thoughts?! Isn't that equivalent as invading one's privacy? I should report you!"

All Zoro received was a deadpanned expression from the little fox in his lap.

' _I'm a pirate, I don't really have a sense of other's people's privacy much less my own crewmate and possible future lover. Just reminding you, you are as much as a pirate as I am so just who are you going to report me to?'_ a silence suddenly followed when Sanji finished talking. Sanji looked up, confused why Zoro suddenly went silent after his outburst. He was sure the swordsman would further argue about Sanji invading his privacy.

"…Did you just say I was a possible future lover?" Zoro finally asked.

 _Oh shit, I said that didn't I?_ Sanji realised and felt the extreme urge to slam his head on the ground while repeatedly calling himself 'stupid'. Instead Sanji decided to roll with it.

' _Yeah I did, I thought that was the whole point of this conversation? To talk about becoming a couple?'_ Sanji replied, hoping it would smooth things over.

"Yeah I know but lover's a pretty strong word for two people whose only just stumbled into talking about being in a relationship." Zoro felt himself smirking as he saw that Sanji was trying his hardest not to look at Zoro in the eye.

 _Shit, shit, shit, merde, merde, merde_ Sanji felt himself panicking.

' _Well do you have a problem with that?_ _And I said 'possible future' didn't I?'_ Sanji asked defensively and hopped off of Zoro's lap in a huff. But before he could fully escape from the swordsman's grasp he found himself being lifted up again and came face to face with Zoro's green eyes. Sanji found himself momentarily distracted for a moment, he's never seen the swordsman up so close before and Sanji began studying Zoro's eyes out of habit. He always found the eyes the most fascinating part of the face, to be able to see all the emotions that flick through the round marbles and to see all different unique colours that belong to the person alone. Up close Sanji could see that Zoro's eye's weren't simply green; there were different shades of green and dashes of brown, it reminded Sanji of a forest described in fairy tales.

"I don't mind… I actually kinda like the sound of it." Zoro confessed softly, rubbing reassuring circles with his thumbs onto Sanji's fur. For the second time within 2 minutes Sanji was ever so glad for having a layer of fur to cover his skin. _'Stupid sentimental marimo'_ Sanji grumbled and Zoro chuckled.

 _Shit, I'm in trouble aren't I?_ Sanji thought but he didn't seem to care anymore. He had already thrown his heart out there. No backing out now. Besides, the marimo can be nice when he wants and Sanji blushed again by Zoro's previous statement.

"By the way, not that I'm questioning why you're currently in fox form but were you this small?" Zoro asked suddenly.

Sanji stared. And stared. And stared. And STARED. Finally he exploded.

"I'VE BEEN TALKING TO YOU FOR THE PAST 60 MINUTES ABOUT FEELINGS AND DEEP SHIT LIKE THAT AND YOU ASK THAT?! LEARN TO READ THE MOOD, YOU IDIOT!" Sanji shouted out of frustration and exasperation. _Shitty marimo!_

"Ah you're back." Zoro noted. _Wait, 60 minutes?_

Sure enough right before his outburst, Sanji had changed back into his half fox form out of the pure emotion of being annoyed at Zoro. Sanji glared at the grinning swordsman and felt the urge to kick the grin off and reform the stupid face.

"So is it a kneejerk reaction to change into a kimono instead of your usual prissy suits?" Zoro teased.

"Shut up! First of all, this is not a kimono; this is a yukata! Second of all my suits are not prissy, you just don't have a sense of style considering that you dress like a slob 24/7!" Sanji snapped back, tugging up a slipping sleeve of his beautiful yukata.

"Twenty-four? Seven? What's with the numbers?" Zoro asked, confused, "Wait, who are you calling a slob?!"

"…It doesn't matter." Sanji groaned putting his face in his hands. _Typical, this is what I'm considering as a romantic candidate. My taste in lovers are going to be the death of me._

While Sanji was grumbling inside his head, Zoro began to study Sanji's new outfit and had to grudgingly admit that it was very nice. The yukata was black with blue embroidering along the edges and while all the different shades of blue were made to look like fire, it made the cook look like he was wearing water with the fabric rippling with every movement Sanji made. Along with the gleaming gold fox ears and tails and the blue orbs that were floating around, pulsing with a soft glow, Sanji really did look like the mystical creatures from urban legends and stories.

"But, really," Zoro began, making sure he had Sanji's attention again, before continuing. "I really don't mind being called your lover."

Sanji stared and went a brilliant red, this time with no fur to cover the bright colour flushing his face. He looked off to the side and began muttering something about 'stupid marimos' and 'lost national treasures', all the while smiling slightly.

"So, are we now an official couple?" Zoro asked and began petting Sanji again.

"I would like to think yes, otherwise that would make the past hour of talking very awkward." Sanji mused leaning in subconsciously towards the petting.

"So how did we spend an hour talking? I certainly don't remember talking that long." Zoro asked curiously.

"Ah, you probably didn't realise but me delving into your thoughts had spent about 30 minutes." Sanji explained.

"You spent thirty minutes in my head?" Zoro asked Sanji, "How did I not notice?"

"It's similar to falling asleep; when you feel like you've only slept for 5 minutes in reality you been sleeping for about half an hour or so." Sanji replied, "How I try and read someone's thoughts is different with every person but with the same idea: I break down a 'barrier' in the brain and then I can access the thoughts of the person, the stronger the will you have the more difficult it is for me to 'break in' and there are different aspects of the brain I can break into, there are the 'thoughts' of the person which are the easiest to see and the harder parts to see are the 'memories' and 'feelings' of the person. Normally it would only take me around 4 or 5 minutes to 'break in' but you have a will made of steel so it took me about 20 minutes with you."

Zoro felt mystified at Sanji's power, it seemed incredible that the cook possessed powers like these but at the same time he felt sceptical. While yes it is very powerful there has to be a catch, Zoro knew that getting stronger himself needed intense training to compensate for that power and he's pretty sure that the cook's power worked the same way. Zoro's eyes narrowed.

"I think we shouldn't tell the rest of the crew yet." Sanji suddenly said observing the details of the swordsman's face and quickly sidetracking when he saw the forest green eyes harden, saving himself from a lecture.

Zoro knew Sanji was changing the subject on purpose and wanted to just lecture him anyway but gave up knowing that the cook wasn't stupid and he can take care of himself. Plus he wouldn't listen anyway so Zoro stayed quiet much to Sanji's relief.

"And why aren't we telling the crew?" Zoro opted to ask instead.

"We're still not so sure ourselves whether this will last, but _when_ we are sure that we want this, we'll tell." Sanji mumbled, fiddling with one of his tails.

Zoro noticed the slight emphasis on the word 'when' and he couldn't help but smile despite his earlier annoyance at the cook. Seems the cook wants this to work as much as he does.

The smile he was wearing changed into a smirk when an idea popped in his head. The idea may or may not get him kicked in the face but he might as well do it anyway. Zoro tugged the cook closer, locking his arms around the slender waist and leaned in slowly, making sure his lips brush the furry ear slightly.

"Well I hope it'll be soon, because I want everyone to know that you're _mine._ " Zoro spoke lowly, smirking even more when he felt the ear twitch and heard a slight hitch in breath. "And just warning you, I can be very possessive. You can flirt with the girls all you want but don't expect me not to interfere, alright?"

Zoro leaned in even closer before, somehow managing to make his voice even lower and finished his sentence:

"Mr. Prince."

Sanji was suddenly hyper aware that he is currently straddling the swordsman with Zoro's arms around him and to top it off Zoro called him Mr. Prince in that stupid (sexy) low baritone of his. When Zoro had finished with his little performance Sanji began sputter utter gibberish and nonsense, redder in the face than Zoro has ever seen him and began to laugh.

"Hahaha you should see your face! It's as red as Luffy's vest!" Zoro laughed into Sanji's neck pulling the flustered blonde even closer into the hug despite Sanji's obvious struggles.

"Shut up you Shitty Marimo!" Sanji shouted, cheeks still flaming red he began half-heartedly smacking Zoro. "The fact that you even know what a vest is amazes me! Let go! Lost child! Moss-head! Shitty Swordsman! National Treasure!"

This continued for another five minutes of Zoro laughing his ass off and Sanji screaming profanities at the laughing swordsman, all the while still locked in an embrace that neither moved out of. After both had calmed down they just sat there for a little while enjoying each other's presence before Sanji smacked Zoro one last time and both dragged the 4-ton purple tiger that Zoro killed back to the ship, arguing for the whole trip back. Some things never change.

As they finally neared the ship Zoro was about to jump on board he was stopped by Sanji.

"Oi, Marimo."

"What?" Zoro grunted and turned his head in the direction of the cook.

Suddenly, Sanji leaned in and pressed his lips near the corner of Zoro's mouth. It took Zoro a few moments to register what was happening in his brain before his eyes widened and he dropped the tiger he was carrying with a thud. Sanji made sure to let the kiss linger, lips sinking slightly before finally pulling away with a small smack of lips leaving skin. It was nothing extraordinary, just a simple skin on skin contact, it was only chaste and innocent. Yet it still caused both fully grown men to blush.

"Well? Are you coming Marimo?" Sanji scoffed as he picked up the tiger that Zoro dropped, the only thing that indicated he had kissed Zoro at all was the slight pink tinge to his cheeks, as he jumped onto the ship.

Zoro just continued to stand there, staring into space. Slowly he raised his hand and touched the place the cook had kissed him and smiled softly.

* * *

 **Did I make it too mushy? I think I made it too mushy... oh well**

 **But yay! They're finally in a relationship! Sort of, kind of but a relationship nevertheless so whoo!**

 **Just to inform those who are reading this *shameless self-promoting* I have another fanfic if you are interested it's another ZoSan (cause I'm ZoSan trash) and it's a 2009 Disney's 'The Princess and The Frog' ZoSan Edition! I haven't started the actual thing yet but I do have a ideas collecting chapter where I explain the gist of it and I want your opinions on it! I love hearing your opinions and I might need some help with some character roles and I am open to all ideas. If you're interested the fanfic is called** The Curlybrow and The Marimo **. Please go have a look and I will be closing to suggestions by the end of this month.**

 **Again I would like to say I'm sorry for such a late update and as always, please leave a review! :D**

 **-Kagu-chan**


	9. Sun

**You know how I said I would update this sooner?**

…

 **I lied.**

 **Happy (very belated) Birthday to our lovely Prince of Cooking and All Blue, Sanji-Kun!**

 **Disclaimer: Nah, nope, I own nothing!**

* * *

"It's hot…" Nami groaned, lying on her deck chair. She lifted the book that was shielding her face from the harsh sun up above and glanced in the direction of the other Strawhats sprawled across the deck. All were lying in a similar fashion as the navigator; slowly dying of heatstroke, dehydration, hyperthermia etc.

"Stupid Grandline and its stupid weather patterns." Nami grumbled as she fanned herself. She was going to take a sip from her drink when she realised that she had finished her drink a long time ago. This resulted in putting the ginger in a sourer mood than previously and she resumed her 'slowly dying' position and groaned.

She slowly started to gather up the will to get up and go get another drink (despite a certain cook's complaints that he can bring it for her) and with a boost of forced energy, jumped up from her deck chair and made her way across the deck, towards the gallery, taking her empty glass with her.

"Sanji-kun?" Nami knocked on the door. "I'm coming in~"

As she was about to open the door she heard a squeak and a crash. Nami raised an eyebrow and sweat dropped. _Well that was weird._

"Sanji-kun?" Nami asked quietly as she slowly creaked the door open.

All she saw was an empty kitchen with two bins surrounded by potato peels and a small knocked over stool. Oh and complete silence.

"Eh?" Nami looked around confused. _The kitchen's empty? But what was that noise before-_

A small rustling noise caught her attention and she looked towards the kitchen counter. Peeking out of the very corner was the tip of a furry golden tail. Nami sweat dropped again.

"Sanji-kun, is there a reason you're hiding?" Nami asked, the moment she finished her question the tail disappeared immediately. Slightly weirded out at the situation, she walked towards the kitchen counter and looked around the corner.

Nothing. The sound of the fridge door opening and closing had Nami snapping her head towards the giant fridge and yet still nothing.

Now Nami was really weirded out. She unconsciously reached for her Clima Tact as she looked around suspiciously.

She felt a small tug on her skirt and nearly had a heart failure. She looked downwards on her right side she saw a tray with a brand new drink on top of it, connected to the tray was a pale little hand and connected to the small hand was a round little face with fluffy fox ears too big for its head and a huge round blue eye.

"Oh uh thank you" Nami said gratefully and took the cool and delicious drink from the small… child…

Since when did they have children on their ship?

"Wait. Where did you come from?" Nami stared at the new face. All the little thing did was blink and tilt its head at her. It was actually kinda cute or more like _he_ was kinda cute. Now that Nami has recovered from her initial shock she realised the little boy looked exactly like a chibi version of their resident cook; large grey-blue eyes, a small body and fluffy ears and tails. The only difference between the mini clone and the real thing was that the mini is wearing a black and blue yukata instead of the usual suit.

"Hello, I'm guessing Sanji-kun made you, huh? And I'm guessing you the one that was playing hide and seek with me." Nami smiled at the little clone and began petting the little head causing her to giggle at how soft the ears were.

"I wonder if it's ok to hug you…" Nami wondered to herself, as she continued petting. She suppressed an 'aw' when the little fox hybrid started purring happily at the treatment he was getting. And Nami's self-restraint broke.

Nami placed her drink on the nearby table. The small child blinked up at her, surprised from the sudden stop of the petting and gave a little high pitched yelp when he was suddenly picked up and crushed into the generous chest of the Strawhat navigator.

"Kya~ you're so cute!" Nami exclaimed hugging the chibi cook tightly. She stopped her gushing just long enough to notice the protested noises coming from the Chibi. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Nami released the Chibi from the confines of her chest and held him in front of her. All she got in return was a slight glare and tussled blond hair. She couldn't help but giggle sheepishly at the childish pout.

After the Chibi stopped looking disgruntled he started struggling and Nami let go instinctively. Immediately after the Chibi made contact with solid ground he ran towards one of the cabinets, jumped in and shut the door behind him. Nami seat dropped, _Well, seems like Chibi doesn't seem to be a womanizer._

 _I wonder what happened to Sanji-kun… come to think of it I haven't seen all day, he wasn't even here at breakfast this morning, there was only a plate of sandwiches and a note._ Nami started wonder, brow furrowing slightly. _And usually he would insist on delivering the drinks himself, did something happen? Did he hurt himself?_

With this thought in mind Nami started to exit the gallery to go on a Cook Hunt; maternal instincts acting up and also the usual feeling of annoyance. The navigator had already on several occasions caught the blond cook overworking himself and couldn't help but feel exasperated and yet worried for the cook. When Sanji is tired it affects how he cooks and despite many warnings from both Chopper and Nami, the cook always overworks himself to gain perfection. At first it had been annoyance with how stubborn Sanji was being, insisting he was fine but later grew into worry when Nami had one time caught Sanji drying the same plate for 15 minutes.

She heard a small creak and saw the Chibi peeking out from his hiding place. When they made eye contact the Chibi squeaked and slammed the door shut again. Nami sighed and walked over to the cabinet. She knocked on the door gently and after a few moments the door opened slowly and a pair of fluffy fox ears poked out, followed by a tentative blue-grey eye.

"Hello again." Nami smiled at the Chibi. "Do you know where Sanji-kun is?"

The Chibi gave the navigator a scrutinizing look before slowly coming out of his hiding place and started walking towards the pantry. When Nami didn't move the Chibi looked back at her expectedly.

The Chibi uttered a single word, so soft it was almost a whisper. "Come."

Nami thought she imagined it but followed him either way. She opened the door of the pantry and nearly screamed.

"Sanji-kun?! Why are you lying on the floor?!" Nami exclaimed, running towards the cook, who sure enough was lying in the corner of the pantry and was currently using a sack of potatoes as a pillow and began to shake him by the shoulders.

"Hrmm?" Sanji grunted as he blearily opened his eyes. "What Sami? Let me sleep for a little longer, I'm still sleepy…"

"Sanji-kun it's me." Nami slightly panicking that he didn't realise it was her, "Did you sleep here all night?"

"uh, maybe?" Sanji answered back, unsure himself scratching his head, messing his hair up even more, his ears giving a lazy flick. "I just felt really tired and the hammocks are too far away, so I slept here."

Nami was speechless until she saw Sanji starting to snore softly again.

"DON'T GO BACK TO SLEEP!" Nami screamed and was about to bonk him in the head but stopped when she heard a high-pitched voice.

"I wouldn't bother doing that."

Nami looked up at the Chibi that was standing by the door for the whole exchange.

"So you do speak." Nami said, placing Sanji's head back on his makeshift pillow and folded her arms. "Care to explain?"

"What do you want me to explain? Why he's passed out or how I exist?" The Chibi answered blankly, face impassive and uninterested.

 _Geez, I take back thinking he was cute._ Nami frowned, sweat dropping. _His character completely changed._

"Both. First explain why Sanji-kun is so tired." Nami stood up and walked towards Chibi. From a different perspective it would look like the Chibi was being scolded by his mother if only his stance wasn't so relaxed.

"He's tired because he overused his powers, the idiot still unable to use his Fox Orb properly yet so he's regaining his strength through sleep." The Chibi walked back and sat down on his stool again, as he was explaining he went back to his previous task of peeling vegetables. "His power solely relies on how strong he himself is. It's similar to exercising, you go for a run but after an hour you begin to feel tired, you need to stop to rest and regain your strength. The more you run the better you get at it, your speed, your stamina; it all increases. But sudden sprints will just make you tired all the time and will not help you at all. You won't improve, you just damage yourself. This idiot might have done a sprint yesterday."

"Why would he do that?" Nami asked, glancing worryingly at the sleeping cook's direction.

"Because he's an idiot, he has his reasons, I don't know." The Chibi answered, "I don't know what goes on in his head."

"But aren't you created by him?" Nami frowned. "Surely you would know at least something about your creator."

"I wasn't created by him, I _am_ him. I'm him when he was at this age." Chibi answered irritably when he nearly cut his finger. "I don't know what goes on in that 'adult brain' of his and I don't want to. While it's annoying being treated like a child, I'd rather be a child than ever finding out what goes on in that little emo brain of his."

"Wait, you're him? And he is you? And if so, did you just insult yourself indirectly?" Nami asked, bending down to be eye-level with the Chibi.

"Yes I am him and so what if I insult myself? It doesn't bother you in either way." Chibi answered curtly, throwing a peeled potato into the nearly full bin. "I'm a memory that he has of himself when he was 10, see those floating blue orbs that always surround him? I'm one of those blue orbs."

Nami turned and walked back towards Sanji. Last time she had counted (yes she counted, so what?) the amount of blue orbs there were the same amount tails he had, so 6 in total. When Nami counted again she realised there really were only 5 orbs that were floating gently around Sanji. Still…

Nami looked back in the direction of the Chibi. "You are a really bratty child you know that?"

"SHUT UP, LIKE YOU WERE ANY DIFFERENT!" The Chibi shouted standing up angrily glaring at the navigator.

"EXCUSE ME? I WAS AN ANGEL UNLIKE YOU." Nami shouted back, stomping out of the pantry.

"I BEG TO DIFFER."

"WHAT WAS THAT YOU LITTLE-"

"WELL WHAT DOES THAT MAKE YOU? YOU'RE THE ONE THAT'S ARGUING WITH A 10-YEAR-OLD."

"Are we interrupting something?"

A soft voice broke up the argument as both the Chibi and Nami looked in the direction of the gallery door. Leaning against the doorway was Sami with a bemused expression on her face. Standing beside her was a smiling Robin.

"…no." Nami mumbled, embarrassed.

"Tch." Sun picked up his dropped peeling knife and grumpily dumped it in the sink. He walked towards one of the cabinets, picked a new knife, sat back down on his stool and finished peeling the half peeled potato.

Sami looked disapprovingly at the Chibi. "Sun! That is not the way to talk to a lady!"

All she got as an answer was the Chibi sticking her tongue out at her.

"And I've told you before you need to take better care of Sanji's knives." Sami clucked her tongue, walking over and gingerly plucked the knife out of the sink. She picked up a slightly damp dish towel and began to clean the knife gently. "Sanji would have your head if he saw you just dump them in the sink."

"Sun? Is that what we're calling Chibi here?" Nami asked pointing at the Chibi.

"Hey! I'm not little!" Sun protested.

"Please, look in the mirror, I can't believe you're 10." Nami frowned. "Not to mention you act like a petulant child."

"Well, you are rather small for a 10-year-old." Robin noted, crouching down to Sun's eye level. "You seem more of the size of a 7-year-old. It's like your body is lacking certain nutrients it needs to grow to your normal size." _And he's also much too skinny for a child to be heathy._

Hearing Robin's words something flashed in the expressive blue-grey eye. Sun gritted his teeth, ears lowering slightly, before tearing his eyes away from the archaeologist's icy blue eyes and reached for another vegetable and silently began to peel again. This silence continued as all three female members gazed at the young cook with various degrees of concern.

"Nami-chan, Robin-san, may I have a moment alone with Sun?" Sami's voice was quiet as she made her request. Robin moved towards the door without a sound, Nami looked in the direction of the fox-girl before following the older woman. It was no use answering; it was never a request. It was a demand.

As Sami heard the door shut she made her way over to the still silent Sun, hair shadowing most of his face. She knelt down and saw his hands were shaking slightly.

" _Sun, look at me."_ Sami demanded.

Sun flinched but refused to look up, hands shaking even more now. Sami started to see clear liquid running down the small face. His ears were lowered flat on his head and the normally soft looking tail looked brittle with all the fur standing on end.

" _Sun. Sun. Sun put down anything that's in your hands and hold them together."_ Sami demanded. To her relief, he listened and put down the vegetable and knife but his hands were still shaking, the clear liquid falling down even more rigorously now. Sun started making soft high pitched whines and cries, ears completely flat on his head and tail puffed up unmoving from its upright position. Despite not seeing it Sami knew that Sun's eyes are currently yellow and dilated from fear. Sami placed her own hands beside each side of Sun's hands. She brought her hands back and

 _SMACK._

"Ouch!" Sun immediately jumped and began fanning his now stinging hands. "Sami?"

"Back?" Sami smiled gently as she got a slight nod in return. "Glad to see that trick still works. Now take a few deep breaths and follow my lead."

Sami took in a deep breath, making sure Sun was following and breathed out again. This continued for a few minutes of the two breathing in sync. Slowly, Sun's hands stopped shaking, his ears started to perk up again and his tail softened. His eye's slowly turned from a golden fox yellow back into the stormy blue eye.

"Feel better?" Sami asked.

All Sun did was nod.

"Ok, then." Sami stood up and stretched, making a small noise of satisfaction before looking mischievously down at Sun. "I think San-chan slept enough, don't you think?"

"You're not going to ask anything?" Sun asked, bunching his yukata into his fists.

"Why should I? You'll tell me in your own time." Sami said casually. "So, do you want to wake up your useless older self or not?"

Sun immediately took on a mischievous look that was identical to Sami's and nodded his head.

"Well, come on then." Sami gestured towards the pantry door. "Oh, before that, get San-chan's lighter, I'm going to get something else…"

* * *

"Sami-sis?" Franky looked up from his latest project, grinning wide and struck his trademark pose. "how can I help our suuuper new crewmate?"

"Hello Franky." Sami replied cheerfully, "I was hoping I could borrow some unwanted wood?"

"Sure thing!" Franky immediately started to look through his supplies. "what kind of wood do you want? We have oak, maple, cherry, mahogany, walnut, rosewood or maybe you even want to use some of the Adam wood?"

"Hmm, whichever one you don't need the most. I only want a small piece." Sami answered, looking around Franky's workshop in interest. The man really could make anything.

"Oak it is then!" Franky presented the small plank of wood with a flourish. "Never hesitate to ask for help ok? Especially if it's from me!"

"Thank you very much! I will take that advice to mind." Sami beamed, taking the plank of wood and made her way to the exit.

"By the way, Sami-sis, what do you need that plank of wood for?" Franky asked out of curiousity.

"Oh, only for a special wake up call." Sami smiled evilly and shut the door behind her. Franky couldn't help but shiver slightly, _well she lives up to the profession of a demon alright. Wait, special wake-up call? With wood? Actually I don't want to know._

Meanwhile Sami was happily making her way back to the gallery, tails swishing behind her but went to a halt when she turned around a corner.

"Ah, Sami!" Nami exclaimed when they nearly bumped into each other. "Um, is Sun feeling better?"

"Yeah, I managed to cheer him up." Sami sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. "Seems he had a rough childhood in this world too…"

Nami found herself reaching her hand up to her tattoo. She ghosted her hand over the permanent ink embedded in her skin wistfully.

"What on earth was I doing? How can I call myself an older sister when I can't even protect my baby brother?" Sami clutched her arms tighter to herself like a self-hug.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over this." Nami scolded, pulling Sami's hands into her own. "It wasn't your fault, what could have you done? You were as much as a child as all of us were, with little to no idea of what the world was like."

"But-" Sami protested, starting curl in on herself.

"What happened in the past happened, nothing we can do can change it no matter how much we want it to. All we can do is focus on the present and create a better future than the past." Nami forced Sami look up and smiled. "Besides if we change the past we wouldn't have the Strawhats now would we?"

"With the Butterfly Effect and all? Definitely not." Sami smiled, ears perking up again. "Sorry about that, I just couldn't stand seeing Sun so upset, after all he is my brother."

"Sun said he was 10 right? Then whatever happened to him at that time is probably still fresh both mentally and physically to him. Sanji-kun is 19 now, it still hurts but he learned to live with the pain better now, all of us have and I'm sure you as well." Nami squeezed Sami's hands. "You've seen him, acting like an idiot around ladies, wearing his heart on his sleeve with that stupid grin of his, honestly there are times when he reminds me of a weird sophisticated, smarter and 'mind in the gutter' version of Luffy.

"Pff, that's true." Sami giggled. "It's pretty ironic, he was a bit of a perv in our previous life as well, but that may be partially my fault so, what can you say?"

"You made Sanji-kun perverted? Oh god what goes on in your head then?" Nami asked in mock horror.

"Many, many things. Be glad you don't have the super power to read minds." Sami answered very seriously. Both girls kept their straight faces for another few seconds before they both started laughing.

"But I hope he didn't cause you any discomfort before I came along, he was raised differently in this world so I have no idea what he was like before compared to now." Sami asked, quirking her eyebrow.

"Well I guess having two different sets of memories and morals is bound to change a person huh?" Nami mused. "The most he has ever done was compliment us a lot and dance around us, he might not really have a sense of personal space but he never touches us inappropriately, he's too much of a gentleman to do that. Discomfort? Unless you count annoyance then no he hasn't made neither me nor Robin feel uncomfortable. It's honestly nice to be pampered by him. Compared to then and now he actually isn't too different."

"So he didn't change that much, that's good to hear." Sami let out a sigh of relief. "I was worried he was completely different from before and that it might have unnerved you guys."

"It doesn't matter to us." Nami shrugged. "Sanji-kun is still Sanji-kun with new sets of memories or not. If we can't accept him for who he is then we can't call ourselves his nakama."

As Nami was talking, Sami started to smile softly. _They really are a good crew._

"I would like to apologise." Sami said suddenly and bowed deeply causing Nami to look at her in surprise. "I'm sorry that I've ever doubted you and not trusting you with my baby brother and for that I'm sorry."

"It's fine! It's fine!" Nami said frantically, waving her hands. "You were only looking out for you brother! We won't blame you so there's no need to say sorry! In fact, I should be the one to say sorry!"

"Eh?" Sami looked up in surprise.

"…Luffy, our captain, well you see," Nami began to explain awkwardly. "He has good institutions on whether you can be trusted or not but he's still one of our youngest members. He can be naïve and childish so the rest of the crew usually observe the people Luffy befriended in their own way to judge if your trustworthy or not."

"So the whole crew has been observing me?" Sami raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"More or less…" Nami muttered, shifting her feet sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine." Sami laughed. "How about this? You don't need to say sorry then I don't need to say sorry, that's fine right?

"Sounds good to me" Nami nodded and the two girls shook hands on it.

"Geez, all this fuss over you, San-chan, I see what you mean when you said he can be annoying." Sami scrunching up her nose. "Siblings are such a pain."

"Tell me about it." Nami nodded in agreement.

"You have a sibling?" Sami asked in surprise

"Yes, one older sister whom I love very much and yet is always a pain in my ass." Nami answered. Yet despite the biting words Nami still had a wistful look on her face. Sami couldn't help but think about her siblings from her past life as well and both relative sisters shared a moment of comfortable silence. Sami pulled out a cigarette from her jacket and lit it. If the ginger head had minded she didn't show it as Sami took in a lungful of the toxic smoke.

"…Does Sanji call you by a nickname?" Sami asked softly, watching the wisps of smoke disappear.

"A nickname?" Nami thought for a bit. "…Well he added -swan at the end of my name but he does that with every lady he meets."

"Have you heard him add -swan to your name ever since I arrived?" Sami asked quietly.

Nami's eyes widened. Now that she thought about it, he hasn't said it for a while now, recently it was only 'Nami-san'.

"The honorific '-swan' isn't just an honorific." Sami paused to take in another drag of her cigarette while Nami was still stunned. "Swan was the nickname he called me whenever I needed comforting, likewise I call him Duck. I don't know if it meant anything before and was just a nickname but it's a name that means a lot to me and him now."

"So," Sami flicked her cigarette into the sea and smiled brightly. "I'm going to give you a special task."

Nami gulped nervously. _There's something behind that smile, I know it._ She could literally see the evil intent rolling off of the fox-girl and Nami took a hesitant step back. Sami leaned in, her taller height making her look even more intimidating. The younger of the two was about ready to cry and run when Sami finally spoke.

"Whenever Sanji needs comforting or support and I'm not around, I want you to take my place." Suddenly all killing intent was gone and Nami looked up at the taller girl in surprise. Sami smiled sadly at the navigator.

"We're pirates, everyday could be our last." Sami leaned back onto the wall. "Sanji loves all of you and he'll do anything to keep you alive. If it's to give away his life, he'll do it in a heartbeat and he never asks for anyone else to do the same for him. But I will be that someone that does it."

"I won't give away my life, but if doing so keeps him alive and happy I'd do it, if it's to give away my powers I'll do it, if it's to throw away my pride I'll do it, if it's to betray and backstab every single one of you I would still do it." Sami said determinately. "He's already done so much for me and what I'm willing to do for him pales in comparison to what he would do for you or me or anyone he holds dear."

"So," Sami stands upright again and faced. "If I'm ever not there when he needs me, I want you to take my place."

"No." Nami answered, face blank.

"Eh?" Sami sweat dropped. _She didn't even consider…_

"Don't get me wrong, I will support all of my crewmates including Sanji-kun without you even telling me." Nami tucked a bang behind her ear and gave a hard stare at Sami. "But I will never take your place. I _can't_ take your place, just like how no one can take my place for Nojiko or vice versa. How like no one can replace Sanji for you."

"Ah." Sami gave as small noise of understanding. "let me rephrase that then, don't replace me but do help San-chan back on his feet. He'll grieve and it will be hard for him so please do anything to bring him back on his feet."

"Like I said, that goes without saying." Nami huffed, turning away. "Seriously, you two are so alike it's scary."

"I thought twins were supposed to be alike?" Sami grinned, Nami only rolled her eyes and walked off.

The moment Nami was out of sight Sami's grin dropped, her eyes shadowed and she clutched the plank of wood even tighter. _How much longer?_

"By the way Sami, why do you have a plank of wood?" Nami suddenly poked her head around the corner again, causing Sami to make a startled little squeak as she was snapped out of her stupor.

"Uwaa you startled me Nami-chan." Sami breathed deeply, placing a hand over her heart.

"Sorry about that." Nami answered way to cheerily to be sorry. "But really why do you have a plank of wood?"

At this Sami remembered her original objective.

"Ah!" Sami suddenly exclaimed, startling Nami this time. "I forgot! Sun's gonna be mad at me..."

"So," Sun clipped out, vein throbbing on his forehead. "Is there a reason why I was waiting for you to return for 15 minutes?"

"I got distracted…?" Sami answered back unsure, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

 _What's with this situation?_ Nami sweat dropped. Sami was currently kneeling on the ground in front of Sun, with his arms crossed. Even when kneeling, Sami was still taller than Sun and yet… _Why does Chibi look like a parent scolding a child with their hand in a cookie jar? Also…_

"When did you get here Zoro?" Nami asked the swordsman that was quietly observing the scene before them as well.

"I got here when I got here." Was the curt answer. Nami suppressed the urge to punch his dumb face in.

"Why are you here?"

"I got thirsty." Zoro replied gesturing to the mug of sake on the table.

"You know Sanji-kun going to mad, right?"

"Does it look like I care?"

"You will when he locks all the booze away in the fridge next time."

Zoro's eyebrow twitched. "I think he already has."

"huh?" Nami blinked at grouching swordsman. "you mean…?

"That's water."

Nami immediately walked over towards Zoro and snatched his mug up. She took a small whiff and took a small sip. Sure enough it smelled like nothing and tasted like H2O.

"…so I'm guessing he found out you knew where he hid the booze and replaced it with water?" Nami asked rhetorically, a wide grin manifesting on her face. The swordsman stayed silent but the tick that appeared on his forehead was all the answer she needed.

"Got the lighter?" Sami asked catching the attention of the two crewmembers. They turned around and found that the question was aimed at Sun, who lifted a lighter in confirmation. They were also in time to see a huge evil grin appear on Sami's face that gave them shivers.

 _What is she up to?_ Was all they could think as they stared at the fox girl.

* * *

… **I'm sorry I ended it here, please don't kill me!**

 **To answer questions!**

TheBewingedWolf: **Yes, there was some time between their deaths but I won't tell how long :3. The world they lived in before they died is not the** One Piece **world but our world without** One Piece **. How they kept their powers are the blue orbs that float around them but more information will be given later on in the story!**

 **No one asked for this but I'm going to give a more detailed description on what Sami looks like! How I picture her is basically my version of genderbend Sanji. As mentioned in previous chapters, Sami is pretty much the same height as Sanji. She's tall and skinny but not the type that looks sticks but more of a lean type with shoulder length blond hair. As mentioned slightly by Nami, I picture her as flat-chested and not exactly curvy. It just seems more loyal to Sanji's body type as a girl, she would still be tall, lean and most of the time these body types are flat chested to me. I know Oda draws his female characters extremely curvy with a negative one waist but this how I picture Sami. Besides she makes up for it in the sass department u**

 **She normally wears a singlet with an oversized long sleeved shirt with a sleeve hanging off a shoulder and her shoes are flats. She always wears black tights with a slit skirt over the top that hide her daggers like how Nami carries her Clima Tact.**

 **Also in this chapter I added in reference to another anime, and I challenge you if you can tell me the reference and which anime it's from! From now on each chapter will have a reference and it will not always be from an anime! I wish you luck!**

 **Well that went longer than expected…**

 **As always, please leave a review!**

 **-Kagu-chan**


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